In a showing that was perhaps surprising for a team that opened its season with a 98-43 loss to No. 21 Gonzaga on Monday night, Texas Southern came into Reed Arena with all guns blazing, leading Texas A&M men’s basketball for much of the first half before the Aggies pulled ahead at halftime, 41-36.
But A&M gave no mercy in the second half, outscoring Texas Southern 63-34 on the way to a 104-70 win at Reed Arena — the first time the Aggies have scored 100 points since a 2021 game against the National Christian College Athletic Association’s Dallas Christian and the most points A&M has scored since defeating Savannah State 113-66 in 2017.
“I don’t think about it, because I’m trying to get to 120 points,” coach Bucky McMillan said when asked about hitting the century mark. “You know, that’s my mindset. So I don’t really think about 100.”
It sure didn’t look like that would be the case in the first half, as A&M trailed the visitors for much of the period. But the Aggies’ full-court press wore down the Tigers, who finished with 23 turnovers compared to the Aggies’ eight as the home squad nabbed 14 steals.
steal & score
Aggie Ball!#GigEm pic.twitter.com/zYWq7enkI7
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) November 7, 2025
“The last thing I told them before we even came out for the game was, ‘Adversity,’” McMillan said. “Totally expect this game to be a close game to the last four minutes. … We said, ‘Expect to go to the end with it and make game-winning plays, don’t get tight.’ So they played loose, played well.”
A&M’s press defense produced early results, to the tune of six steals and 10 Texas Southern turnovers in the first half. The Aggies’ problem was just turning that into points.
The Tigers shot a stellar 58% from the field in the first half — down from the whopping 70-plus percent the visitors boasted through the game’s first 10 minutes. And the Aggies didn’t have a miserable shooting percentage — 46% from the field in the first half and 29% from 3-point land — A&M struggled on the boards, being out-rebounded 17-12 in the period.
Texas Southern has played McMillan at Samford each of the past three seasons and went 0-3 in those games. But the familiarity the Tigers had with McMillan’s Bucky Ball style may have played a role, junior guard Josh Holloway — who was on those Samford teams before following McMillan to A&M — said.
“I’ve played them every year I’ve been in college so far,” Holloway said. “ … Coach said, ‘They’ll probably know what to do with the press, since they played it like almost every year.’ So we just knew that was gonna happen during the game.”
Graduate student forward Rashaun Agee led A&M with 16 points before exiting the game with 16:06 left in the second half after a Tiger flagrant foul while Agee was driving to the basket left the Aggies’ captain with a cut on his face.
Agee did not return, and after the game McMillan said he was having his eye looked at by the Aggies’ athletic training staff.
With Agee out, A&M relied on a committee — not just for scoring, but for leadership, senior G Rylan Griffen said.
“He’s our leader,” Griffen said. “So it felt kind of like, it was like, ‘Okay, where’s the voice gonna come from? Where’s the guy who’s gonna get on everybody for not playing hard? Where’s the guy who’s gonna play his heart out and try to do everything he can to win?’ But the good thing about this is we got the win for him, and I think we played better after seeing that.”
Griffen had 14 points, and was one of 12 Aggies to score in the contest — five of whom made it to double figures.
Next, A&M hits the road to visit Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9.
“They play really fast, top-15 pace in the country,” McMillan said. “I expect it to be a really up-tempo game. It’s gonna take one of our best efforts, and we have to really dial in and overcome a lot to make it happen, like you would any Quad 1 game.”
