Foul trouble and 13 turnovers forced Texas A&M’s second loss in three games, the latest in a 62-53 drop to Georgia in Reed Arena Wednesday night.
As the Aggies might and kryptonite, junior guard Alex Caruso led in points and turnovers. He gave the ball away five times, but made up for it with 20 points.
“It’s the same thing I’ve said all year,” Caruso said. “We’re going to learn from this one. We’re going to take the negatives and turn them into positives for us. We’re going to get back to practice and work harder, and come ready to play Saturday.”
Although no Aggie fouled out, Kourtney Roberson, Jalen Jones and Tavario Miller ended the first half with two fouls each, and Jones only played eight minutes in the first frame.
Junior guard Danuel House rode the bench as well, but for a different reason. At around the nine-minute mark, House drove to the basket and fell hard, scuffing his head on either a body or the hardwood itself.
House didn’t see the court for another seven minutes, and his arrival with 1:40 left in the first half rallied the crowd. Just 34 seconds later, House had them on their feet once again with a 3-pointer from the right wing, cutting the Aggie deficit to 34-31.
The bench provided only two points for A&M (16-7, 7-4 SEC), but the Aggies were able to keep it close until the big men found further foul trouble.
Roberson committed his fourth personal foul with 12:02 left. And when A&M needed Jones the most, the junior post picked up his fourth foul at around the seven-minute mark.
“We didn’t handle the adversity well,” Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy said. “In the beginning when House was out in the first half, it hurt us. Jalen [was in] foul trouble, Kourtney [was in] foul trouble. We did a poor job of handling the adversity, and Georgia played extremely well. They did a really good job of running [their] offense, and played as a disciplined, veteran basketball team.”
Georgia (16-7, 7-4 SEC) went on an 8-0 run around the time Jones picked up his fourth foul, rallied by a Taylor Echols 3-pointer from the left corner with 7:40 left.
A&M’s last pushing effort came in the closing couple minutes when Caruso cut it to four with a 3-pointer. However, Gaines answered right back with a 3-point dagger to seal the deal with 43 seconds left.
Gaines was among three Bulldogs with double-digits, leading the pack with 15. He shot 6-for-12 from the field despite ending the game with four fouls.
Kennedy said although it was a tough loss, there are still plenty of games left to play.
“We didn’t play well enough to win,” Kennedy said. “It’s a lot of inexperience, and it’s not the end of the world … We’ve got to play better. Georgia was better than us. You can’t take anything away from them. We didn’t do what we needed to do in some areas.”
The three-game homestand for the Aggies will resume at 5:30 p.m. Saturday when the Florida Gators roll into town.