Billy Kennedy and the Aggie men’s basketball team dominated the Auburn Tigers on Saturday, beating them 81-62. A&M improved to 14-12 and 6-8 in the SEC and Auburn fell to 16-11 and 5-9 in the SEC.
The Aggies jumped out to a 12-2 start and never looked back as they led by double digits for the majority of the game.
“It’s really good to get a win,” Kennedy said. “To make some shots and share the ball and see some guys who haven’t had an opportunity to play come in and play well, thought that was a big key for us. Auburn’s really young and our zone gave them problems, I think that’s the most zone I’ve ever played as a head coach, but it sure did work.”
The Aggies shot a ridiculous 68.9% from the field, which is the third best shooting performance in school history. Every A&M player shot over 55% for the game and the Aggies spread their scoring around some.
Sophomore guard Admon Gilder led the Aggies with 17 points and five assists, with four other players scoring over 11 points, including Robert Williams who had another great game as he scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and blocked six shots.
“We made better decisions when we got the ball,” Aggie junior forward Tonny Trocha-Morelos said. “We were trying to take better shots, and I would say this is the best 40 minutes we have played this year.”
Auburn got off to a slow start against A&M’s zone as they only scored six points in the first nine minutes of the game. The Tigers would go on to never really figure out the Aggie zone as they shot just 34.3% for the game. Auburn had been averaging 92 points in its last three games and the Aggies held them to just 62 today.
“Texas A&M did a great job on short prep getting ready for us,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “They don’t start zone a lot, so it caught us off guard a little bit, I knew they’d play it because of their size on the front line. We didn’t penetrate very well, we didn’t get to the foul line very well, and we didn’t attack early, and when we did attack it, we didn’t execute. It was a good game plan for them, and obviously they have some terrific pieces.”
The Aggies will be back in action as they take on Arkansas in Fayetteville on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
