News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
LAS VEGAS – The No. 20 Texas A&M men’s basketball team rallied past the No. 21 Creighton Bluejays, 77-73, on Wednesday to give sixth-year head coach Buzz Williams his 100th victory in Aggieland.
Williams hit the century mark as the Aggies logged their second win of November against an AP Top 25 foe. The Aggies also took down then-No. 21 Ohio State on Nov. 15. It’s the first time the Aggies have logged two top 25 victories in the opening month of the season since 2017 when they beat No. 11 West Virginia and No. 10 USC.
Williams became the first head coach with 100 wins at three different NCAA power conference schools – 139 at Marquette from 2008-14, 100 at Virginia Tech from 2014-19 and 100 at Texas A&M from 2019 to present. Note: Kelvin Sampson has also done it at three power conference schools – Washington State/Pac 10, Oklahoma/Big 12 and Houston/Big 12 – but Houston is only in its second year in the Big 12. Also of note, Williams won his 353rd career victory, which matches the win total of longtime staffer Dale Layer, who won 353 games at Queens, Colorado State and Liberty.
The Aggies showed tremendous resolve to take down the Blue Jays, who jumped to an early 8-0 lead and controlled the first half as they took a four-point lead into halftime at 31-27. The Aggies came out firing in the second stanza and grabbed their first lead of the game less than three minutes into the second half. It was the first of 11 lead changes before the Aggies took the lead for good with :35 seconds remaining.
Creighton’s 13th 3-pointer gave the Blue Jay their final lead of the night with :58 seconds before Solomon Washington was fouled as he battled through contact for a layup. His successful free throw gave the Aggies a two-point advantage at 72-70. Henry Coleman III, who was in the starting lineup for the first time since last February, pushed the lead to three with a dunk and added a free throw to make it a two-possession game with nine seconds left. A steal and a layup by Washington put the game out of reach before a meaningless pair of free throws from the Bluejays.
Coleman and Washington keyed the second half as they both hit double-digit points in the second half while combining for 11 rebounds. Coleman hit 6-of-6 shots and grabbed six boards, while Washington chipped in 10 points with five rebounds.
For the game, Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies with 18 points while pulling down five rebounds and dishing out four assists. Joining him in double figures were Coleman with 17 and Washington and Andersson Garcia with 10. Coleman led the Aggies with nine rebounds, including four off the offensive glass.
Once again, the Aggies were dominant on the glass as they out-rebounded the Jays, 48-37, and had a commanding 21-11 advantage on the offensive glass. The Aggies’ dominance on the offensive glass led to a 23 second-chance points and a whopping 42 points in the paint. Another key to the victory was the Aggies’ low turnover rate as they matched a season low with just 10 turnovers on 71 possessions (14.1%), while forcing 15 from Creighton.