COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — The holidays are a time for sharing — and Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy is loving what he’s witnessing from his players on that front.
“I like to see it when we have five, almost six guys in double figures,” Kennedy said. “That means we’re sharing the ball, and we’re harder to defend.”
Christian Mekowulu and TJ Starks each scored 17 points and Josh Nebo added 16 as A&M defeated Marshall 92-68 on Saturday in Reed Arena. For good measure the Aggies also had Brandon Mahan scoring 12, Jay Jay Chandler adding 11 and John Walker chipping in nine.
“It’s hard to guard us when you’ve got five players in double figures,” Starks said. “You don’t know who’s going to score, or when they’re going to score.”
The Aggies (6-4) dominated the Thundering Herd (6-6) in rebounds (54-30), points in the paint (58-24) and bench points (44-14). Rondale Watson led the Thundering Herd with 19 points and C.J. Burks added 18, while A&M’s Savion Flagg led all rebounders with a dozen.
Marshall led 27-24 with 6:47 remaining in the first half, before the Aggies heated up to close out the first 20 minutes. Starks, who came off the bench for the first time this season, sank a 3-pointer to tie the game at 27-27 with 6:23 to the break, and Mahan and Nebo took over from there.
Mahan scored A&M’s next four points, and Nebo then collected three field goals — including two tip-ins and a dunk — in the final four minutes of the first half to lift the Aggies to a 41-33 lead at the break. It was all downhill from there for the Thundering Herd, who saw a two-game win streak snapped.
“A&M has won five straight and (Kennedy) does a great job, but this game was on us, not so much him,” said Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni, whose younger brother, Mike D’Antoni, coaches the NBA’s Houston Rockets about 100 miles from College Station.
Marshall backup forward Iran Bennett hurt his ankle in the first half in trying to defend an A&M drive to the basket, and Bennett sat out the second half with a walking boot on his right foot. D’Antoni said Bennett would be evaluated further on Sunday.
Texas A&M Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 92, Marshall 68
Reed Arena (College Station, Texas)
ABOUT THE GAME
- Texas A&M improved to 6-4 on the season as it defeated Marshall, 92-68. This was the second straight game the Aggies have won by at least 20 points.
- Play remained close for nearly the entire first half as neither team led by more than two possessions until the closing minutes. After seven first-half ties, A&M used a 6-2 run in the final three minutes to take an eight-point lead into the break, 41-33.
- The Aggies started the second half on a 10-2 run to go up double figures and continued to distance themselves throughout the period.
- The victory was A&M’s first against the Herd through three previous meetings.
TEAM NOTES
- Five Aggies finished scoring in double figures in the lopsided win, marking just the second time this has happened this season.
- The Aggies out-scored Marshall in the paint, 58-24.
- A&M has forced its opponent to shoot 35-percent or worse in each of its last four games after Marshall was just 35.2-percent from the field on the day.
- The Aggies used the starting lineup of Wendell Mitchell, Jay Jay Chandler, Savion Flagg, Brandon Mahan and Christian Mekowulu for the first time this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Junior Josh Nebo cleaned up on the boards with eight of his 10 first-half points coming on put-back dunks. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line as he finished with a season-high 16 points, adding eight boards.
- Graduate transfer Christian Mekowulufollowed up a career performance earlier in the week with his fourth double-digit scoring game in the last five outings. He helped lead the way with 17 points in the win, grabbing seven rebounds.
- Sophomore TJ Starks neared double figures with nine points in the first half, finishing with 17. He has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight games.
- Sophomore Brandon Mahan recorded his third straight game in double figures, adding 12 points against Marshall.
- Sophomore Jay Jay Chandler returned to the starting lineup and chipped in 11 points and six rebounds for the Aggies.
- Sophomore Savion Flagg pulled down 12 rebounds, reaching double figures in the category for the second time this season.
- Billy Kennedy is now 143-102 in his eight-year tenure at Texas A&M and 354-281 in his 21 seasons as a head coach.
UP NEXT
The Aggies will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 as they host Texas Southern. Tip is set for 2:30 p.m. at Reed Arena. The game is part of the annual Holiday Hoops promotion, which features general admission tickets for $5 for adults and $3 for youth, available here.
POST GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Billy Kennedy
Opening statement…
“I like to see when we have five, almost six guys in double figures. That means that we are sharing the ball and we make ourselves hard to defend. Defensively we did a good job on [Jon] Elmore and [Jannson] Williams, which was big in helping us win. I have a lot of respect for Marshall, the way they play and the success they have had. They do a good job and they are hard to prepare for.”
On what helped them win the game…
“We played really well defensively, I thought transition defense in the second half there was some slippage, but we got the game going and we were able to play the game. We had a high pace offensively and I thought our zone and change in defense slowed them up some, especially the first 30 minutes of the game.”
On TJ Starks’ performance…
“TJ [Starks] was better in practice, and obviously better in the game. When he is engaged like that it makes our team a lot better. He was really good coming off the bench, his attitude was good and his performance was good.”
On Josh Nebo’ performance…
“Josh [Nebo] has been good for us all year. Today he was perfect from the field, perfect from the line. We were able to get the ball in the paint and get the ball to the rim when we could get deep penetration. He is so quick off his feet that he is a tough matchup for most people, especially teams that don’t have SEC-caliber bids.”
On the team improvement…
“We obviously feel better, because we won five in a row, but we’ve got Texas Southern, who has beat Oregon and Baylor, coming up. What I have been proud of is that our guys, they are not letting the name of the opponent have an effect on our preparation or have an effect on our performance. Hopefully we can get that across against Texas Southern because they are very capable.”
Sophomore Guard TJ Starks
On coming off the bench…
“We go with whatever Coach Kennedy has, whatever the game plan is that day is what we go with. If I have to come off the bench every game that’s what it will have to be and I’m fine with that. Given that I didn’t have a good performance on Wednesday, I came on Thursday locked-in going into practice, studied film on Marshall and came in ready to play.”
On the distribution of scorers against Marshall…
“It’s hard to guard us when we have five players in double digits. It’s hard to guard, you don’t know who is going to score, when they are going to score, and puts a lot of pressure on the other teams”
Junior Forward Josh Nebo
On post players and the opposition…
“We just tried to come in, crash the glass and be competitive. We wanted to play hard and do our job, – that’s all I ever try to do. It’s never easy, it’s college basketball. But you just go in and play hard and everything will take care of itself.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics