Coming off of a two-game win streak, things were looking up for the Aggie men’s basketball team as they traveled to Baton Rouge in hopes of getting revenge on LSU, who beat them in the team’s first meeting, 69-68.
The positive momentum changed.
As the Aggies were unable to overcome an abysmal first half that was plagued by turnovers and the Aggies fell to the Tigers, 77-65.
“I think we had 12 turnovers [in the first half]. We couldn’t even get the ball to our big guys. I thought we turned the ball over too much,” head coach Billy Kennedy said to 12thman.com. “They contested our passes and picked us at half court sometimes and we just really struggled getting into our offense. It was sloppy.”
The Aggies’ quite simply didn’t look like they were ready to play to start the game, and had already committed five turnovers just four minutes into the game. The Aggies finally settled into playing at their pace, however, the Aggies struggled to make their shots.
The Aggies’ starting five of Duane Wilson, Admon Gilder, D.J. Hogg, Robert Williams and Tyler Davis combined for just 15 points in the first half and shooting just 7-of-22 shooting.
LSU dominated the paint, outscoring the Aggies 22-8 in the first half. LSU forward Duop Reath was a force to be reckoned with in the paint and led the game in scoring in the first half with 12 points. The Aggies found themselves in a hole, trailing 41-26 at the end of the first half.
The Aggies came out in the second half, needing a phenomenal half in order to muster up a comeback. A&M sophomore guard asserted his dominance in the half down near the basket, netting 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in the second half alone. Williams finished the game with tied for the game-high in points with 21 points.
Led by Williams, the maroon and white were very solid on the boards and outrebounded the Tigers 50-30 in the game. However, the extended possessions were not enough as the Aggies shooting woes continued in the second half. The Aggies finished the game shooting just 39 percent (26-for-66) from the field and 21 percent (6-of-28) from behind the arc.
In addition to the Aggies shooting troubles, they finished the game with a season-high 20 turnovers. Kennedy attributes the overall sloppy offensive play on poor preparation.
“I’ve got to do a better job of preparing our team in practice for this and we’ve got to have guys be able to practice instead of just resting them while they’re hurt or recovering from being hurt,” Kennedy said.
Defensively, the Aggies struggled to slow down LSU guard Tremont Waters who scored nine points in the second half and finished the game with 15 points.
“We had a hard time guarding him. Admon Gilder is coming off of meniscus surgery and he is struggling to move,” Kennedy said. “He tried to do his best, but Tremont Waters was a little bit too much for him.”
The Aggies outscored the Tigers 39-36 in the second half, however, the effort wasn’t enough to come out on top and the Aggies lost 77-65.
The Aggies will now take a break from SEC play and travel to Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday where they will take on the No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks in a Big 12-SEC Showdown. The game will be televised on ESPN with tip off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.