At times, Texas A&M men’s basketball season-opener against the Northwestern State Demons felt like an exorcism — for multiple reasons.

Sure, the Aggies cast out the Demons without too much difficulty, to the tune of a 98-68 season-opening victory to begin the Bucky Ball era under new coach Bucky McMillan.

But for the 12th Man in attendance, A&M’s press-heavy, up-tempo approach felt like exorcising the demons of its past — including last season, when the Aggies finished 215th in the country in adjusted tempo and 328th in 3-point percentage, per KenPom. 

Aggies — I know you might be confused by the scoreboard.

But we have another half to play #GigEm | #BuckyBall pic.twitter.com/wXorTeKxSV

— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) November 4, 2025

A&M’s 98 points were the most it’s scored since a 98-83 win over Nebraska in the round of 64 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. 

“Points can be misleading at times,” McMillan said. “Because I thought they tried to slow the tempo down. … Obviously, percentages matter. I wanted to be above 50% from the field. We were right at 50. I want to hold them below 40% from the field. And they were right at 40.”

Spanish sharpshooter

Leading the way for the Maroon and White was a new face in Aggieland — now on this side of the Atlantic. Sophomore guard Rubén Dominguez led the Aggies with 18 points, on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. 

“The team did a great job just sharing the ball and finding me,” Dominguez said. “It’s been happening through all the week, and that’s what I think, we just play unselfish. Today it was me, the other day it was [graduate student forward] Zach [Clemence].”

Dominguez was the Aggies’ star in the first half, leading A&M with 13 points thanks to his 3-of-4 mark from beyond the arc — partially due to a block-followed-by-a-3-pointer sequence that sent the 12th Man — who have been eagerly looking forward to this season’s shooting display — to its feet.

Dominguez said his first game in the Reed Arena was an experience he won’t forget. 

“It was impressive to me,” Dominguez said. “It’s a lot different from Spain, for sure, and I personally love it.”

Beyond the Spaniard, A&M largely scored by committee. As a team, the Maroon and White shot 49%, while junior G Josh Holloway and senior G Rylan Griffen both dropped 13 points. 

McMillan has stressed the importance of the Aggies’ depth this season, and A&M lived up to that focus against Northwestern State as 12 Aggies found themselves scoring points.

“We’ve got a deep team, not because we got, you know, 10 guys on the NBA Draft board right now,” McMillan said. “We’ve got 10 solid, good players. That’s what we got. And so therefore, it’s gonna be different people’s nights every other game.”

Welcome to the press gang

By the end of the first half, the Demons appeared visibly worn out. The Aggies’ press defense forced 13 steals on the night, while A&M finished with 24 points off of turnovers. 

“We’re relentless,” graduate student forward Rashaun Agee said. “We pressure the ball 24/7. We play hard 24/7. We try to be first to the ground. … We want to 24/7, just go at teams. We don’t want a team to feel comfortable.

That intensity showed up down low as well, as A&M finished with 48 points in the paint. While the 3-point sharpshooting may be what draws fans’ interest when it comes to Bucky Ball, the Aggies don’t always rely on perimeter shooting.

“A lot of teams nowadays shoot a lot of threes,” Agee said. “You know, we’re a great 3-point shooting team, but we attack the paint so much that it allows us to get kick-out threes. And that’s what us having 48 points [in the paint] looks like.”

Northwestern State did have its own bright spot on offense in senior G Micah Thomas. As one of the Demons’ most-used returning players last season, the pressure was on the Oklahoma City native. And boy did he deliver, to the tune of 28 points over the course of the night.

“Some teams are going to get off on us, I mean that’s just the way it is because it’s a full-court game,” McMillian said. “4-for-4 from three, he made some tough ones. But they also missed some open ones, right? But we obviously want to play good players. We want to play well-coached teams, and we want to play teams that get us better. We got better tonight, that’s for sure.”

Next, A&M faces Texas Southern on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. as part of a three-game stretch in the first week of the season.