Fans came to Reed Arena to see senior guard Bernard King shine on senior night, but Aggie fans were instead treated to a show by A&Mjunior forward Andy Slocum in Texas A&M’s 79-60 win over the Baylor Bears.
Slocum, who sat out A&M’s (14-12 overall, 6-9 Big 12) 77-69 loss to Baylor (13-13, 4-11) in Waco, proved to be the missing centerpiece to post up against Baylor sophomore forward Lawrence Roberts. Slocum was able to win the battle in the paint and lure Roberts to commit three first-half fouls that forced Baylor Head Coach Dave Bliss to sit Roberts for the remainder of the half.
“To not have (Roberts) in there, it really makes us have to change our offense,” said Baylor junior Matt Sayman who led the Bears with 13 points.
After forcing Roberts out of the game with 3:57 to go in the first half, the Aggies went on a 14-6 run to take a half-time lead of 36-26. Slocum scored six of his 15 first-half points in the final four minutes with Roberts on the bench.
Slocum scored 18 points and brought down seven rebounds in just 16 minutes to lead the Aggies to victory.
“It felt good to come out and play good for a change,” Slocum said. “I felt a lot better out there tonight.”
The win assured the Aggies of their first winning season since the 1993-94 season when they went 19-11 and reached the post-season National Invitation Tournament and their first winning season under Head Coach Melvin Watkins. The victory also put the Aggies into a seventh-place tie with Texas Tech in the Big 12 Conference standings, assuring them of no worse than an eighth-place finish which would equal their highest finish ever.
“It’s pretty obvious that we’ve got better players,” Watkins said. “We’ve had players that have been in this program improve, and Ihope those are signs of us doing things right.”
Baylor began the game hitting four of its first six three-point attempts earning the Bears an 11-4 lead. The Bears, who rank sixth nationally in three-point shooting percentage, hit just three of their next 25 three-point attempts.
“This game was really similar to our game (in Waco),” Bliss said. “They missed a lot of open shots up there.”
The Aggies pulled away in the second half as King dished out 10 assists, matching his career high.
“I think he played a great game and he only got three points,” Watkins said. “How often can I say that about Bernard King?”
The Aggies face Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. Saturday to finish out the regular season and then head to Dallas to play in the Big 12 Tournament.