Aggies endure another hard fall on road
Texas A&M’s play on the road, even in front of small audiences because of the COVID-19 pandemic, needs some big-time tuning, with another startling example on display Wednesday.
South Carolina hammered a slothfulA&M78-54 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
“We’re not yet disciplined (enough) to compete in consecutive games,” said forward Emanuel Miller, who led the Aggies with 28 points. “That’s the next step our program needs to take.”
Miller added that he “felt like therewas no fight, no effort” from the Aggies in the decisive second half. The spry Gamecocks had five previous games either postponed or canceled to date because of the pandemic, and at one point didn’t play a game over a span of 27 days.
Their lack of on-court time, however, didn’t seem to faze them against the Aggies (6-3, 1-2 SEC) — at least not in a negative way for the Gamecocks (3-2, 1-0). A&M had trouble guarding South Carolina’s AJ Lawson throughout, and he finished with a game-high
30 points.
The Aggies also had trouble blocking out following errant South Carolina shots, and the Gamecocks wound up with 17 offensive rebounds (compared to six for A&M).
“We weren’t disciplined in our defense and we didn’t take up space on our rebounds,” Miller said.
A&M was coming off a 68-66 last-second home victory against Auburn on Saturday, when guard Andre Gordon scored the gamewinning basket with 1.6 seconds remaining. The Aggies, however, had lost their previous two road games, including a nonconference contest against TCU in Fort Worth, by a combined 41 points. A& M opened SEC play with a 77-54 loss at LSU on Dec. 29 — now not even the Aggies’ worst loss in league action this season.
A&M on Wednesday committed 19 turnovers compared to 15 for South Carolina. The Aggies only scored five field goals in the second half.
“We were giving them the ball too often and it led to a one-pass layup or dunk,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said.
The Aggies return home at 1 p.m. Saturday to face No. 9 Tennessee, led by former Texas coach Rick Barnes. The Volunteers defeated Arkansas 79-74 on Wednesday night in Knoxville, Tenn. After the Aggies try and get back on track in SEC play on Saturday, they travel to Mississippi State on Jan. 13 before hosting Missouri on Jan. 16.
The Aggies had six turnovers in the first six minutes in having trouble finding their footing early and the first half featured a couple of runs by both sides. South Carolina scored nine consecutive points to jump to a 15-6 lead seven minutes into the game, and A&M responded with an11-0 run to quickly jump back into the contest. The Gamecocks led 33-27 at the break before busting open the game.
The Gamecocks were playing only their fifth game and SEC opener. A&M was playing its third league game, with the blowout loss at LSU and the Auburn victory on their ledger entering Wednesday
Miller kept the Aggies in the game in the first half by making 7of-9 fromthe field and scoring 17 of their 27 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Aggies are in their second season under Williams, who was named the SEC’s coach of the year in 2020 2 after A&M finished 10-8 in conference play, the Aggies’ first winning record in league action since 2016 under then-coach Billy Kennedy.
A&M entered the 2020 SEC tournament with two consecutive victories, but the league event was canceled because of the burgeoning pandemic, and the NCAA Tournament was then canceled. The Aggies likely would have needed to win the SEC tournament to have had a shot at the NCAA postseason.