After a January collapse, the A&M men’s basketball team seemed to be back in December form as they defeated South Carolina, 83-60 on Saturday.
The Aggies started the game on a 22-5 run and never looked back. Guard play was key in the run as 16 points in the run came from guards T.J. Starks, Admon Gilder and Savion Flagg. Many of these points came in transition for the Aggies, which Gilder says is what the A&M guards want.
“In transition, we get after people. I just think that we did a great job of kicking the ball early and get it down low. We have two main posts that can score at anytime,” Gilder said. “It helps to be able to share the ball with each other because now you find open shots for D.J. [Hogg], me and T.J. Starks who is playing well and with confidence.”
Forward Robert Williams put on a clinic in the first half and finished with six points (3-of-3), nine rebounds and four blocks.
A&M finished the first half shooting 63 percent (17-of-27) from the field, while South Carolina shot just 21 percent (8-of-38). The Aggies went into the locker room with a 49-27 lead, the first time they’ve had at least a 20-point lead at the half since 2016.
Prior to the game, head coach Billy Kennedy said his big men duo of Tyler Davis and Robert Williams would likely neutralize South Carolina’s duo of Maik Kotsar and Chris Silva and that the game would be decided by guard play. However, the Aggies handedly won the battle down low, 23-14, even with Williams and Davis playing just 21 and 19 minutes, respectively.
The Williams and Davis tandem also dominated on the defensive end. Williams finished the game with nine rebounds and five blocks and Davis chipped in seven rebounds and a block.
“Give their guys credit, Tyler and Williams are good,” South Carolina head coach Frank Martin said. “None of our big guys did much to fight at the post position. They took it to us, simple as that.”
A&M won the guard battle as well, as the Aggie starting guards outscored South Carolina’s starting guards 24-8 in the game. The maroon and white also showed their depth with 12 players getting minutes and 11 of those players scored in the game.
“They got their whole team together, their experience, their talent, they’re playing better. They’ve got their whole team together, they’re coming off a real good win the other day,” Martin said. “When they play like they played today they’re a problem for a lot of teams in the country.”
The Aggies will return to action on Wednesday in their road matchup against No. 11 Auburn on Wednesday. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with tipoff slated for 8:00 p.m.
“We got these two wins at home which was really big to protect our house, now we have a key road game at Auburn, who’s playing really well, I think going there and getting that one also and come back and play Kentucky,” Gilder said. “We’re taking it one game at a time but we also feel the energy that we’ve been creating, we’re going to keep on rolling.”
