Aggies go cold for their fifth loss in six games
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M had hoped for payback following a double-digit loss at LSU to start SEC play in late December.
Instead, the Tigers on Tuesday added to the Aggies’ ongoing misery, this time on A&M’s home court. LSU defeated A&M 78-66 at Reed Arena before a limited-capacity crowd. The abruptly ice-cold Aggies failed to score from the 8:50 mark of the second half in blowing a six-point lead.
“We kept throwing punches, and we fought back into the game,” A&M guard Savion Flagg said. “(But) the shots stopped falling in that little stretch.”
A&M (7-7, 2-6 SEC) has lost five of its last six games, including three consecutive setbacks at home. LSU led 35-18 late in the first half before the Aggies,
who missed 12 of their first 13 3-point attempts, tightened the gap to 41-36 at halftime. A&M held LSU without a field goal over the final 4:21 of the first half in climbing back into the contest.
Like A&M, LSU (11-4, 6-3) entered the night having lost its previous two games. All of the Aggies’ losses in league play have been by double digits, while their two victories over Auburn and Mississippi State came in the last seconds of tight contests.
The play Tuesday of senior guards Jay Jay Chandler and Savion Flagg was a bright spot for the Aggies, at least over the game’s first 30 minutes.
Both were held scoreless in A&M’s 61-50 loss at Mississippi on Saturday, but Chandler finished with 21 points and Flagg 17.
“This stings a little more. It’s probably our last time to play them,” Chandler said. “We wished we had gone out with a win (against LSU).”
A big difference in Tuesday’s outcome came at the free-throw line. LSU finished 18-of-20 there (90 percent), while A&M was 6of-9 (67 percent).
LSU, which has won eight consecutive games in the series, won this season’s first meeting 77-54 in Baton Rouge, La., on Dec. 29, a sore spot for the Aggies over the past month. The Aggies entered the game averaging an SECworst 63 points per game but had scored that many Tuesday with nearly 10 minutes remaining. They went quiet, however, following a furious comeback in which they briefly led by six points.
LSU freshman star guard Cameron Thomas, despite an overall off night from long range (3-of-13 from the 3-point line), led all scorers with 28 points.
The Aggies, in trying to get their season on track, are on the road Saturday at Kansas State in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge. They return to Reed Arena and SEC play on Feb. 3 against Vanderbilt. LSU hosts No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Last year in coach Buzz Williams’ first season, the Aggies started SEC play 2-3 before finishing 10-8, their first winning record in league competition since 2016. The season ended abruptly because of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Aggies preparing to play in the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
Williams coached Tuesday night’s first half in a dress shirt and suit vest but perspired so much over the first 20 minutes that he switched to a white “Texas A&M basketball” T-shirt for the second half. The switch seemed to help the Aggies’ fortunes — at least before their reality this season again set in.