Aggies give Kennedy at least one more
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Texas A&M Aggies finally have a victory at the Southeastern Conference tournament after leaving emptyhanded each of their past two trips.
Forward Savion Flagg scored 17 of his career-high 29 points in the first half, and 11th-seeded Texas A&M beat Vanderbilt 69-52 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the tournament to keep coach Billy Kennedy around for at least another game.
Last year, the Aggies lost on a buzzer-beater to Alabama and Vanderbilt the year before that. Even though Flagg and Jay Chandler are sophomores, they are the only Aggies to play in this tournament before and they knew how long it had been.
“So coming in here and just getting a win, we’re just going to keep it going, just keep the momentum going through the tournament,” Chandler, a guard, said.
Texas A&M (14-17) snapped a two-game skid in a struggling season that has put Kennedy’s tenure at risk after eight seasons and 151 wins. The Aggies will play No. 6 seed Mississippi State in the second round Thursday night. Aggies junior Josh Nebo said Kennedy’s demeanor didn’t change despite reports the coach will be fired at season’s end.
“He didn’t seem upset,” Nebo said. “He just seemed even-keeled like he always is. That just kind of overflowed to us. When you see your coach in a good place, it just shows us that we’re good, we can go out and play and don’t worry about it. He just told us just play and don’t worry about him.”
Texas A&M advanced by running over a team mired in an even worse season. Vanderbilt (9-23) never led and added to the worst season in school history with a 20th straight loss. The Commodores went through the SEC schedule as the first team in 65 years without winning a single game. They turned in the first losing record in 67 seasons at Memorial Gym, and being a couple of miles away at Bridgestone Arena didn't help.
The Aggies were in such control Kennedy rested Flagg a bit after the guard had played all 40 minutes of two of the past three games. The sophomore came in leading the SEC in minutes played averaging 34.6 minutes per game and played 35 minutes Wednesday.
Coach Bryce Drew’s job status also is in question after a combined 43 losses over the past two seasons, the latest to a team Vanderbilt lost to March 2 in Texas by seven points. Drew said he’ll meet with new athletic director Malcolm Turner after the season.
Chandler had 13 and Nebo added 11 for the Aggies.