Though No. 23 Texas A&M dropped its opener to UCF, it came back and rattled off three-straight wins, including one against its first ranked opponent of the season, then-No. 21 Ohio State. With Southern University coming into town, a fourth-straight victory was all but penciled in. However, early on the 1-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference squad came out and punched the Aggies in the mouth — hard. Though the final score was 71-54, a Southern upset brewed in the first half.
A&M’s early game offensive struggles dominated the early narrative, opening up 2-10 in the first five minutes with the Jaguars pouncing in that time span, collecting four blocks. The defensive momentum carried over to the other side of the ball for Southern, led by sophomore guard Jordan Johnson, who favored his matchups and knocked down a pair of threes.
As the Aggies struggled to get anything going offensively with a slow half-court offense, Southern replicated coach Buzz Williams’ 1-2-2 press and continued to swarm once the ball got past halfcourt. The Jags sent bodies as soon as A&M put the ball on the floor and it worked, forcing turnovers to grab an early 19-11 lead.
Unfortunately for A&M, the struggles continued in all aspects. A combination of missed free throws and easy looks at the basket failed to pull the Aggies back into the game with A&M’s usual offensive stars unable to get going. Senior G Wade Taylor IV only had six points with his last first half bucket coming in at the 15:17 mark. Senior G Zhuric Phelps — team leader in points-per-game average — was also held in check, missing strong takes at point-blank range which accumulated in a 0-6 shooting start.
The Jaguars continued to take advantage as shots kept dropping to take a 16-point lead with a minute left to go in the first half. With a forgettable 20 minutes of basketball on the horizon for the Maroon and White, Southern junior G Michael Jacobs added insult to injury with a buzzer-beater jumper to close out the half, 39-25.
With slow buzzing tension growing in the crowd, the Aggies came out fighting with a rejuvenated feeling. Taylor knocked down an early floater to spark up the second half comeback and premature Southern fouls gave the Maroon and White a chance to be in the bonus early. As expected, Williams made adjustments accordingly, with the biggest being the abandonment of the 1-2-2 press.
Though it has proven successful in the past, the Jaguars were able to exploit it in the first half by sending players down court, resulting in easy baskets. When that didn’t work out, they went early in the shot clock by swinging the ball around the perimeter, attacking an Aggie defense that wasn’t set.
Now, Williams had his defense playing the usual half court defense, allowing his players to be more set.To execute the new defense, he trotted out a small-ball lineup of Taylor, Phelps, senior G Jace Carter and junior forward Solomon Washington and senior forward Andersson Garcia — and it worked to perfection.
The Aggies suffocated the once-hot Jaguars offense: switching everything, staying home with shooters as Southern shots became tightly contested and slid into position for timely steals. Like Southern, A&M capitalized on its defensive momentum and finally made its looks at the basket to cut into the Jaguars’ lead. As Reed Arena started to make some noise for the charging Aggies, the guard tandem of Taylor and Phelps cut the lead to just one following a Taylor pull up three and Phelps’ strong bucket at the rim.
Life was finally breathed back into the Maroon and White with a Carter bucket down low to secure a 45-44 lead — A&M’s first lead since the 14:15 mark in the first half. The Maroon avalanche was too much for the now-startled Jaguars and it was their turn to struggle offensively. They couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half, courtesy of Williams’ new defense.
A&M garnered 11 second-half steals with Carter alone snatching four, including back-to-back steals in the span of 20 seconds which led to a thunderous slam by senior G Manny Obaseki, up 57-49.
The Aggies also started to do the intangibles right: diving after 50/50 balls ,crashing the offensive board and second-chance points sprouted about.
With A&M wrapping everything together, it put finishing touches on the 71-54 victory. With an absurd 29 offensive rebounds pulled down and 14 steals snatched, it was a good wakeup call for the Aggies as they head to Las Vegas on Nov. 26, for the Players Era Festival, taking on Oregon.
