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BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Quenton Jackson scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Andre Gordon added 15 points and Texas A&M opened its season with an 82-53 victory over New Orleans on Sunday.
Jackson scored 13 of Texas A&M’s opening 16 points and finished the half with 17 as the Aggies led 41-24. The Aggies had a 12-0 run in the half and closed on a 9-0 spurt with 3-pointers by freshman Hayden Hefner and Andre Gordon.
Jackson, a sophomore, topped his previous best of 20 points last season by going 11 of 13 from the field against New Orleans. He was 4 of 6 from distance and added three steals in 28 minutes.
Freshman Hassan Diarra added 14 points with four assists and six steals for Texas A&M, which has won 20 straight openers. Savion Flagg, who is the team’s leading returning scorer at 10.4 points per game, had nine points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
LaDarius Marshall scored 14 points for New Orleans (0-2). Troy Green added 11 points and Damion Rosser had 10.
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams started his collegiate head coaching career at New Orleans in the 2006-07 season. The Aggies stay at home to face Tarleton State on Wednesday.
Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 82, New Orleans 53
Reed Arena (Bryan-College Station, Texas)
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M opened the 2020-21 season with a 82-53 victory over New Orleans Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
Texas A&M extends its streak to 20 consecutive season-opening wins.
The Aggies all-time record between the two teams is now 2-2 with Texas A&M winning the last two.
TEAM NOTES
With 2:49 left in the first half, the Aggies went on an 11-2 run en-route to a 41-24 advantage to close out the opening stanza.
Texas A&M forced 27 turnovers, the most in the Buzz Williams era.
The Aggies had 16 steals, the most since 2010 when the Maroon & White had 16 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Texas A&M outscored New Orleans 18-4 on the fast break.
Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Jonathan Aku, Savion Flagg, Andre Gordon, Quenton Jackson and Zach Walker for the first time this season (1-0).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Quenton Jackson set career highs in points (28), 3-pointers made (4) and rebounds (7).
Andre Gordon scored 15 points and was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc to match a career high in 3-pointers made.
Savion Flagg matched his career high in assists with six. Flagg also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds to mark his 11th career game with 10-or-more rebounds.
Hassan Diarra scored 14 points and recorded six steals in his collegiate debut. His six steal performance marks the most by an Aggie since 2015 when Alex Caruso had six steals against Kansas State.
Hayden Hefner buried three 3-pointers to account for all nine of his points in his collegiate debut.
Zach Walker made his first career start.
A total of five Aggies made their debut in the opener, including Kevin Marfo, Hassan Diarra, Hayden Hefner, LaDamien Bradford and Jaxson Robinson.
Buzz Williams is 17-14 in his career at Texas A&M and 270-169 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M hosts Tarleton State on Wednesday, December 2 at Reed Arena at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics