Aggies can’t seem to shake woes at home
COLLEGE STATION — An old Big 12 foe showed up at Reed Arena and sent Texas A&M reeling.
“We need to come out fighting a lot harder,” guard Wendell Mitchell said following Oklahoma State’s 73-62 win in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge. “We got punched and let them keep punching us.”
The Aggies (9-9, 3-3 SEC), coming off an edge-of-their-seat road victory at Missouri on Tuesday, dropped their third consecutive game at home. They’re hoping for a postseason bid, even if it’s the National Invitation Tournament in coach Buzz Williams’ first season, but realize they can’t keep losing in Reed Arena for that to occur.
“We were non-communitive on the court, and we were on our heels,” Williams said of the Aggies trailing over the final 30 minutes of Saturday’s game. “We don’t have the ability to overcome that.”
The Cowboys (10-9, 0-6 Big 12) had lost six consecutive games, all to Big 12 foes, but seemed right at home in their first appearance in College Station since the winter of 2012. Later that year, the Aggies left the Big 12 for the SEC.
The Cowboys worked over the Aggies from the field, in shooting 55 percent (27 of 49), compared to 39 percent (23 of 59) by A&M. Williams dubbed it a poor defensive effort by a typically decent defensive team, and Aggies guard Quenton Jackson agreed.
“It’s super frustrating,” Jackson said. “That’s our fault, and we’ve got to rotate better on defense.”
The Cowboys reserves also outscored their A&M counterparts 39-23, and OSU kept the Aggies at arms’ length starting midway through the first half. OSU, which hosts No. 3 Kansas on Monday is maybe the Big 12’s most baffling team.
“We’re a struggling team right now with a lot of talent, and we’re still trying to figure it all out,” said forward Jonathan Laurent, one of five OSU players to score in double digits. “This was very important to us, and we worked really hard to get this one.”
The Cowboys’ game plan was straightforward, and it’s one SEC teams will mull moving forward: Minimize A&M forward Josh Nebo, and make the rest of the Aggies try and beat them. Nebo entered the game leading the Aggies in scoring (12.6 points per game), rebounds (7.3 per game) and blocks (2.6 per game).
“He was the game plan,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “We tried to take as much space away from him as possible and keep bodies around him. He’s too much to handle for one guy.”
Nebo was held to two shots in the second half and finished with 11 points, four rebounds and the team’s lone block. In addition, A&M guard Jay Jay Chandler was ejected from the game with a little more than seven minutes remaining after stepping on OSU forward Cameron McGriff ’s head as he laid on the court following a play under the basket.
The Aggies hit the road for their next two games, Tennessee on Tuesday and Georgia on Saturday.