The Texas A&M men’s basketball team looks to build off of an impressive 40-point victory last Friday night over USC-Upstate with its next game Monday night against Southeastern Louisiana.
Freshman small forward D.J. Hogg led all scorers Friday night with 20 points. All four of A&M’s highly recruited freshmen finished in double figures, including Elijah Thomas with 11 points, and Admon Gilder and Tyler Davis both finishing with 16.
“Those [freshmen] can score the basketball,” senior shooting guard Danuel House said after the game. “We had six guys in double figures and of those, four were freshmen. Impressive.”
The Aggies (1-0) dominated the game in assists, finishing with 32 total — including eight from point guard Anthony Collins and six from Alex Caruso. A&M also won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding the Spartans 46-28 with seven from Davis and six from House. A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said seniors like Collins, Caruso and House are the perfect compliment to the freshmen.
“We’ve got seniors with freshmen on the floor,” Kennedy said. “If the freshmen make a mistake, the seniors can take the hit and help out.”
Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) is coming off a 90-77 loss to TCU. Last season, the Lions finished 10th in the Southland Conference with a 12-18 record overall and a 7-11 conference record. The Lions feature 6-foot senior guard Zay Jackson, who transferred from Murray State after the 2011-2012 season.
Jackson received preseason second team All-Southland Conference honors and put up 19 points in his first regular season game after suffering a season ending injury last year. He leads the team in points per game while teammate Keith Charleston led the Lions in rebounding against TCU with seven.
One of A&M’s strong points going into this season was its depth, and the Aggies boasted 56 points from their bench Friday. The Aggies will remain short-handed, however, missing senior forward Jalen Jones — who must serve four games without play due to transferring in two years ago. Alex Robinson also did not play in the opener but for unknown reasons.
Tip-off against Southeastern Louisiana will be at 7:00 p.m. at Reed Arena and will be the second of a four-game home stand before the Aggies travel to the Bahamas. The game will be featured on SEC Network.
