Aggies succumb to 3-point attack
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M’s defense is designed to force plenty of 3-point attempts from the other team. That’s often well and good for first-year coach Buzz Williams — until the Aggies careen into a collective hot hand from the outside.
South Carolina cruised past A&M 81-67 on Saturday in Reed Arena, in a contest the Aggies briefly led nearly midway through the second half.
“Half of their shots were from the 3-point line,” Williams said, “and we did an incredibly poor job contesting those shots.”
The Gamecocks made 16 of 30 of their 3-point attempts, including 10 of 18 in the decisive second half. South Carolina tied a school record with its 16 3-pointers in a game.
“(The Aggies) play good defense, but it’s a scheme we practiced against and coach (Frank Martin) prepared us for,” said Gamecocks guard Jair Bolden, who led all scorers with 19 points, including sinking 5 of 7 of his 3pointers. “We knew they were going to plug the gaps in the paint and make us make extra passes.”
The Gamecocks made a higher percentage of their shots outside the 3-point line (53.3 percent) than inside of it (13 of 30, 43.3 percent).
“We have to play (better) defense, we have got to have heart and we have got to have pride,” A&M guard Quenton Jackson said. “We can’t lay down on our backs and we’ve got to contest threes. … We know what we need to do, we’re just doing a poor job of executing right now.”
The Aggies (8-8, 2-3 SEC) ignited hope among fans early in league play by winning two of their first three SEC games, at home against Mississippi and on the road at Vanderbilt. They also know they need to win their home games if they hope to compete in the postseason, and they’ve dropped two straight in Reed Arena.
On Tuesday, the Aggies blew a six-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, in falling 89-85 to league rival LSU in overtime. On Saturday they briefly led 49-48 with 11:50 remaining before the Gamecocks (10-7, 2-2) once again caught fire from the outside.
In addition, South Carolina outrebounded A&M 23-8 in the second half, grabbing more offensive rebounds (10) than the Aggies managed overall in the final 20 minutes. The Gamecocks snared five offensive rebounds on one possession — meaning they also missed five shots — before Jermaine Couisnard drained a 3pointer from deep in the right corner with about seven minutes remaining.
“There were a lot of things we could have done better,” A&M forward Emanuel Miller said.
Martin and Williams are close friends, and Martin said Williams’ three-quarter court press defense forces opposing players to make choices on offense nearly the entire court, instead of just on one end.
“It doesn’t allow you to play in structure,” said Martin, who led South Carolina to the 2017 Final Four. “It makes you play in space and makes you make decisions. For the most part, we made pretty good decisions.”
The Aggies hit the road for the first time in more than a week when they play at Missouri on Tuesday.