Aggies stay hot at rowdy Reed
TEXAS A&M 72, VANDERBILT 66 SATURDAY’S GAME
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M’s roll in Southeastern Conference play kept spinning on Saturday night in Reed Arena, but this one didn’t come as easy for the Aggies as a handful of the other victories against league opponents.
A&M, in continuing to make its case for its first NCAA Tournament bid in five years, edged Vanderbilt 72-66 before a packed, rowdy house on a rainy night in College Station.
“That was a really entertaining game,” said Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse, a former NBA All-Star guard. “It came down to execution late in the game, and we weren’t great in our execution late in the game.”
The Aggies snapped a two-game losing streak to the Commodores, while Vanderbilt still leads the all-time series 10-7. Few of the previous 16 meetings featured as much drama as Saturday night’s affair, however.
A&M forward Andersson Garcia’s offensive rebound and putback with 1:03 remaining lifted the Aggies to a 68-66 lead, and A&M guard Wade Taylor IV followed with a steal on the other end under the basket on the Commodores’ ensuing possession. Taylor was fouled after swiping the ball and made both his free throws with 44 seconds left in lifting the Aggies to a 70-66 lead.
“He was probably MVP of this game with his six offensive rebounds,” Stackhouse said of Garcia. “He kept the ball alive for them.”
Aggies coach Buzz Williams described Garcia’s consistent hustle as a “needle mover” in games regardless of what shows up in box scores.
A&M (15-6, 7-1 SEC) overcame a 34-30 halftime deficit against Vanderbilt (10-11, 3-5). Vanderbilt forward Myles Stute made 4of-5 3-pointers in the first half but cooled off over the final 20 minutes, in making 3-of-9 from the 3-point line after the break.
The Commodores were coming off a 69-53 home loss to Kentucky on Tuesday while the Aggies had defeated No. 15 Auburn 7963 on the road on Wednesday.
Stute led all scorers with 22 points while forward Henry Coleman III led the Aggies with 18 points in making 6-of-9 shots from the field. Reed Arena was full at tipoff and the rowdy environment was mindful of when the program first returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2006 following a nearly two-decade dry spell.
“The whole environment was fun,” A&M guard Tyrece Radford said of Saturday’s exuberant atmosphere. “The fans were locked in, and that’s what we needed. It was a fun moment, and we stuck it out and got the win.”
Coleman described the rowdy setting as what players “dream for” in competing in college.
“It’s what every kid in the driveway is shooting for,” Coleman said. “Playing in that game and that environment was special.”
The Aggies head back on the road on Tuesday evening at Arkansas. The Razorbacks hold a 107-58 advantage in the series but the old Southwest Conference foes have split the last eight meetings.
An appreciative Williams said Saturday’s crowd was “the difference” in the tight outcome because the Aggies had only played three nights before on the road against a top 15 team, and the fans’ consistent energy pulled the Aggies through the lulls late Saturday night.
“The ambience of Reed completely changed the game,” Williams said. “That energy almost supplied us intravenously. We’re thankful.”