Midway through Texas A&M men’s basketball’s game against Mississippi State, the Bulldogs’ junior guard Josh Hubbard — the Southeastern Conference’s leading scorer — had a simple request for A&M senior G Rylan Griffen.

“Josh actually came to me,” Griffen said. “He was like, ‘Dang, y’all gotta stop pressing me, like I’m getting tired out here.’ And I’m like ‘Man, unfortunately not, bro. Trust me, it’s both ways. We’re tired, y’all tired too.’”

A&M’s shutdown of Hubbard along with graduate student forward Rashaun Agee’s 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists — good for his ninth double-double of the year — capped off a statistical oddity: Despite being outshot from the field 43% to 41% and outrebounded 39 to 37, A&M improved to 5-1 in SEC play with a 88-68 win over Mississippi State at Reed Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 21. 

“Our team’s got it going on right now,” head coach Bucky McMillan said. “On offense, they’ve got a good chemistry. … They just know where they’re supposed to be and where the other guy is going to be. And that’s a thing of beauty.”

How do you beat a team that seemingly beats you on the stat sheet? Give them nothing, and take from them everything.

A&M gave up a season-low three turnovers against Mississippi State, while the Bulldogs turned the ball over 13 times, leading to 14 Aggie points.

“Three turnovers in a 40-minute SEC basketball game, that’s unheard of,” McMillan said. “You may watch the SEC play all year and not see that happen again with any team.”

In a bit of deja vu, it took a familiar face to break a first-half deadlock with some sharpshooting.

As was the case in Austin last Saturday in A&M’s win over Texas, Griffen changed the game in the blink of an eye. With back-to-back 3-pointers in the span of just 30 seconds — and another 3-pointer from senior G Jacari Lane just after graduate F Zach Clemence gathered up a loose pass for a steal — the Bulldogs were forced to call a timeout as the Aggies began a 19-5 run and went up 34-23.

☔️ RAINING THREES IN REED ☔️

6-0 run in 19 secs pic.twitter.com/ytYfuExsaS

— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 22, 2026

Ever the team player, Griffen gave the credit to Agee.

“Mr. All-SEC over here, he set two good screens and got me open,” Griffen said. “And that’s another reason he’s All-SEC. … You see the night he had, 23 and 10, which is normal. We’re not even surprised by that no more. But he really runs the offense, too.”

That scoring run put an Aggie spin on what had otherwise been a tight first half, with neither team leading by more than three points.

Griffen and Agee led all scorers with 11 points at half, with A&M leading 44-33. While Agee dominated the second half, Griffen added four second-half points, including a dunk that had the Reed Rowdies roaring.

McMillan has said throughout this season that his goal is for the Aggies to shoot at least 40% from the 3-point line. In the first half, they hit that number exactly, while the Bulldogs shot a measly 18% from deep.

On top of that, A&M went 23-for-24 from the free-throw line, including Agee’s perfect mark of 9-for-9.

“When you come in, you miss one free throw and you only got three turnovers, I wouldn’t say you’re bound to win, but great things always happen when you play great basketball,” Agee said.

It seemed the Aggies’ 19-5 scoring run was the straw that broke the Bulldogs’ back, as the visitors were stuck trailing by double digits the rest of the contest.

Part of that consistent gap was A&M’s ability to shut down Hubbard. After putting up eight points in the first half, the Aggies held Hubbard to just four second-half points — well below his SEC-leading average of 22-plus points per game.

Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans credited that to the Aggies’ press defense, although he said it was more about the mental aspect of trying to score on a team playing Bucky Ball than the physical one.

“That system puts more stress on a guard than most games, with the different odd and even fronts and the different types of traps in the half court, full court, even in the front court,” Jans said. “Some may not wear you out physically as much, because Josh is in elite shape, but it wears you out mentally.”

Next, A&M looks forward to another home game at Reed Arena on Saturday, Jan. 24, when the Aggies host the South Carolina Gamecocks at 2:30 p.m.