Brown burns Aggies in two ways
COLLEGE STATION — The Aggies can’t claim the worn adage that no one is harder on them than themselves. Because no one has been harder on Texas A&M this season than Auburn guard Bryce Brown, on and off the court. Not by a long shot.
No. 14 Auburn hammered A&M 85-66 on Wednesday night in Reed Arena, thanks in part to Brown at one point scoring 18 consecutive points for the Tigers late in the first half. He outscored A&M by his lonesome 18-10 in that span.
Then Brown hammered the Aggies from in front of a microphone, in questioning their desire following Auburn’s lopsided victory. He said he expected more “fire” from the home team, especially defensively and especially with a ranked opponent rolling into town.
“They probably could have played a little harder,” a frank Brown said.
A&M coach Billy Kennedy agreed, only not to the degree of the Aggies’ foe.
“Everything they do well, we don’t do well, so it was a tough matchup for us,” Kennedy said.
The Tigers rudely woke up the Aggies from a sweet dream, too. The last time the Aggies had taken the court, they were celebrating TJ Starks’ game-winning 3-pointer at Alabama for an 81-80 victory.
This time around there would be no chance at a last-second heve —– that chance bypassed A&M (7-8, 1-3 SEC) in the first half when Auburn (13-3, 2-1) heated up from the outside. Fifteen points of Brown’s eye-popping stretch of 18 came on 3-pointers. The first three points came when he was fouled in the lane on a made layup, and then made his free throw.
In that span Auburn’s lead sprang from 28-20 to 46-30, and A&M never threatened again. Auburn overwhelmed A&M on second-chance points (20-8), points off turnovers (18-10), offensive rebounds (20-7) and bench points (27-5). The Aggies’ Savion Flagg and Wendell Mitchell each had 22 points to tie with Brown for the game high.
“They overplayed everything (defensively),” Mitchell said of the Tigers. “They were playing really fast, flying around. It was lopsided from the beginning.”
As for Brown’s long-range exhibition that featured both open and contested shots?
“After he made his first two, you could tell his confidence was getting very high,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to find guys like that (on defense).”
The Aggies try and get back on track on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Missouri before playing at Florida on Tuesday.
A&M was picked 12th out of 14 teams in SEC play this season after losing most of their starters from a Sweet 16 team, and on Wednesday night they looked like one of the conference’s worst programs.
“Honestly I just felt like they weren’t getting back on defense, so I just tried to beat them down the floor like I’m (coached) to do,” Brown said with a shrug.
The Aggies had won three consecutive games against the Tigers and coach Bruce Pearl entering Wednesday, but Auburn swept that stat aside as quickly as Brown brushed off helpless A&M defenders.
“Quite frankly Billy has got the best of me the last few years,” Pearl said. “But we were the more experienced team this time. Defensively our game plan was to not let Starks beat us, and we tried pressuring full court just to slow him down.”
The Tigers’ plan worked, Kennedy said.
“Their ability to make tough shots and open shots was the biggest difference in the game,” he added. “And (defensively) they pressured the ball, and instead of being strong with the ball, we tried to beat their defense by playing one on one.”