LSU fans and the few pieces of the 12th Man that traveled to Baton Rouge, La., witnessed two sides of the Texas A&M men’s basketball program.
The first side was displayed in the first half when the Aggies accumulated a 24-point advantage to enter the locker room after they tallied a 66% shooting percentage from behind the arc and held the Tigers to just 17 points.
The other side took place in the second half and exhibited a lack of effort on the defensive end, minutes of scoreless offense and a few more turnovers than the first.
Fortunately for A&M, the outcome is judged on the total score of both halves rather than one.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, A&M defeated LSU 74-62 on its home court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center; a court that the Aggies haven’t left victorious in six years.
5th year guard Dexter Dennis started the game automatic. The Louisiana native showed up early in the matchup and connected on his first two 3-point attempts and tallied a layup in less than two minutes.
This quick burst from Dennis helped lead the Aggies on a dominant stretch on both ends of the floor, which included multiple runs and a demeaning 21-point deficit for the Tigers with eight minutes still to go in the first half.
By the end of the first half, the maroon and white dominated in every statistic imaginable in the game of basketball. They led in the rebound category 17 to 11, six total assists to the Tigers four and only gave up one turnover and forced five.
“We were locked into what we were doing,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “ We knew what they were doing and even as they began to make adjustments to their plan, our guys were sensing it.”
A&M found itself up 41-17 with still a whole other half left to go and when the majority of viewers believed it was over… it was far from that.
LSU came out of the locker room on fire as it was able to scrape together a 9-0 run early and hold A&M to three minutes without a single bucket. LSU coach Matt McMahon made significant adjustments at half time, one of them was to hand the freshman a little more responsibility.
With only 6 points in the first half, freshman forward Tyrell Ward flipped the switch on the Aggies and gathered 12 points in the second half.
The Tigers scratched and clawed and found themselves in arms reach of A&M. Unfortunately for the purple and gold, the Aggies caught fire once again.
A 14-point second half from sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV helped reignite the flame that seemed to burn out over half time and secured the Aggies’ 10th win of the season.
Taylor finished the night with 23 points, which included five 3-pointers and a perfect percentage from the charity stripe.
A&M’s final six games feature five Quadrant 1 opponents that would, with a victory, help warm up a spot in the bracket for the maroon and white. The Aggies will look to gain vengeance on Wednesday, Feb. 15, against the Razorbacks inside Reed Arena.