It’s been a historic week for graduate guard Wade Taylor IV: First, he and No. 22 Texas A&M rebounded from its four-game losing streak with a monumental win over No. 1 Auburn, the first-ever win over an AP No. 1 team in school history.
Then, he had his namesake jersey number honored and raised into the rafters of Reed Arena. For Taylor, he’s already etched his name as an Aggie legend: first in both career free throws made and percentage, second in 3-pointers made and — headed into the team’s final regular season game — was just nine points away from being the program’s all-time leading scorer.
On the game’s first possession, he gave a glimpse to just how he’d go in the record books by knocking down his first shot, a 3-pointer off an open look on the left wing. Then, he poured in a fast break layup and another pullup three to bring himself to a point short of the record.
Of course, the record-breaking points came in classic A&M fashion as junior forward Pharrel Payne back-tapped an offensive board off a miss. Taylor won the loose ball race, and from deep, without hesitation, let the ball fly with a quick release. As soon as the ball swished cleanly through the net, he became A&M’s all-time scoring leader.
Despite the early-game heroics, the Maroon and White found themselves in a hole early on as LSU went on a 17-0 run to close out the first half with a 32-30 lead. However, just like the Aggies have done all season, they returned to their winning ways to end the regular season with a 66-52 victory.
How to overcome a 17-0 run
Coming off of Taylor’s early heater, A&M tried to replicate the same success with multiple shots from midrange and beyond the arc but with no success. Especially going early in the shot clock, it only fueled LSU’s first-half run as the Tigers came out running on the fast break and moved the ball when the Aggies weren’t set defensively.
Most importantly, the gritty, get-points-the-hard-way identity for the Maroon and White was absent, as they only attempted nine first-half free throws. Meanwhile, graduate G Jordan Sears went bucket-for-bucket with Taylor and spearheaded an LSU free-throw explosion in the game’s first 20 minutes, going for 16 points with six from the charity stripe as the Tigers shot 10-for-12 on the line.
Coming out of a much-needed timeout, the Aggies finally broke their six-minute field goal drought with a steal and easy layup by senior forward Andersson Garcia, and the team followed suit. The emphasis switched from outside looks to attacking the rim, and it paid dividends as A&M dug deep to trail by just two points heading into the second half.
The esteemed Aggie defense came out of the gates firing in the second half, forcing multiple missed shots, and with lucky point-blank misses, the attack down low continued.
The switch in the game plan worked flawlessly and will be an arsenal for the Aggies in the postseason.
Doing the dirty work
While the offense got going, the intangibles remained. Big men graduate F Henry Coleman III and Garcia remained poised on the defensive end and the glass. While Garcia led the A&M comeback in the first half with his unrelenting energy, Coleman pushed it to another level in the second half, dominating and overpowering the Tigers in the paint for 11 points and five offensive rebounds en route to another double-double. As a whole, the team tallied 14 offensive boards, doubling LSU’s total with Garcia joining Coleman in the double-digit category in total rebounds.
No other play epitomized it better than when junior F Solomon Washington got the ball off his own free throw miss for more A&M second-chance points.
The defense shut down the once-hot LSU squad, forcing a 6-of-27 shooting performance and surrendering only five free throws in a half that the Tigers couldn’t dig themselves out of. Sears cooled off as well, with A&M holding him to only five points and no free throw attempts.
Senior G Cam Carter has one of his worst shooting performances on the season, held to only seven points on 2-of-12 shooting, a far cry from his 16.8 points-per-game average and 43.6% field goal percentage.
With another successful regular season of the coach Buzz Williams era in the books, the Aggies will head into Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, March 12, for an opponent to be determined in the SEC Tournament.
