After losing in upset fashion a day earlier at the hands of Murray State, 88-79, No. 24 Texas A&M was unable to bounce back in the consolation round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational Friday, Nov. 18, falling to Colorado 103-75.
In a tournament some believed the Aggies to be the favorite in, they now have dropped their first two games and have fallen into the seventh place game. Coming in, the Aggies were 2-0 on the season and now drop to 2-2, unable to pick up early season wins that could come to be important in March.
“So disappointed, very embarrassed,” coach Buzz Williams opened his postgame interview. “Zero competitiveness from start to finish. We’ve got to figure something out. That doesn’t represent our institution, our department or our program in the right way. I do not think we were playing at the level of intensity that you have to play at.”
The Buffaloes improve to 3-2 on the season and add to its early season ranked wins after defeating then-No. 11 Tennessee on Sunday.
A&M was led in scoring by junior guard Hayden Hefner who had 13 points in the game. Freshman forward Solomon Washington and junior forward Julius Marble each added 12 points on the day.
Four of the Aggies top five scorers were all newcomers to the A&M roster.
“I’m more disappointed in the returning players,” Williams said. “You want your returning players to help in the installation of what we want to be about. You’re only going to be as good as your returning players, regardless of your incoming players, and you want your incoming players to have as much talent as possible and I do like the talent of our guys whether they’re returners or not but this has caught me off guard and I have to be responsible for that.”
Colorado, who responded after a 66-63 defeat the day prior to Massachusetts, used the three point shot to its advantage all game shooting 16-for-32 from 3-point land.
“We did a great job of sharing the ball,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “We had 22 assists — that’s what happens when you share the ball and make shots. But I told our team I’m tired of bounce-back wins. Now let’s build off some wins. That’s the next step.”
Sophomore guard KJ Simpson scored a team high 30 points for the Buffaloes shooting 11-for-17 from the field and 50% from three.
A&M has not played these last two games as well as they did their first two games at home.
“Last week at home, I understand the competition is different, but from a synergy standpoint, a competitive standpoint and from an energy standpoint it has not traveled with us to South Carolina,” Williams said.
The Aggies fell behind 8-4 before the first media timeout after shooting 1-for-6 from the field. After the timeout, A&M used a 10-4 run to pull ahead 14-12 before graduate student guard Ethan Wright knocked down a three for the Buffaloes giving them the 15-14 lead with a little less than 12 minutes to play in the first half.
Colorado would not relinquish the lead again and following another media timeout, the Buffaloes used a 12-2 run of their own to extend their lead to 24-16 forcing Williams to use the first Aggie timeout.
Shooting woes continued for the Fightin’ Farmers throughout the first half as the Buffaloes were able to increase their lead to 42-25 with just under three and a half minutes to go in the half.
As the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the first half, Colorado held a 54-33 lead behind a 10-for-19 shooting performance from behind the arc. The Buffaloes were led by Simpson with a team high 14 points in the half.
A&M shot a lowly 10-for-28 from the field in the half and were led in scoring by graduate transfer guard Dexter Dennis and senior guard Andre Gordon who each had six points.
Continuing the offensive onslaught from the first half, the Buffaloes, ushered by five quick points from Simpson, grew their lead once more to 66-38 with a little less than 17 minutes to go.
Simpson and the Buffaloes never took its foot off the gas and were able to close out the 103-75 victory over the Aggies.
“We were all disappointed after (Thursday),” Simpson said. “We were locked in this morning. We wanted to play with the energy we should have had yesterday.”
A&M allowed an opponent to reach triple digits for the first time in Williams tenure with the Aggies.
“The last 80 minutes we have not been about what we need to be about and that in the very end is on me,” Williams said.
With the loss, the Aggies will play the loser of Boise State and Loyola-Chicago Sunday Nov. 20 in the seventh place game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational before returning to action Nov. 25 for a road contest at Depaul.
Although a practice on Saturday Nov. 19 was not on the original schedule for the team, Williams said in the postgame interview, the team will now practice on Saturday.
“Instead of just waiting on the game on Sunday, we can’t give away tomorrow,” Williams said.
For more information on the Aggies next opponent and the remaining schedule, visit 12thman.com