BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Andre Gordon scored 10 points including the game-winner with 0.9 seconds left as Texas A&M held off Auburn 68-66 on Saturday.
Gordon drove the lane, pivoted and faked a shot before scoring off the glass. Jamal Johnson, who made five 3-pointers, missed a 3 at the buzzer for the Tigers.
Emanuel Miller had 16 points and five rebounds for Texas A&M (6-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), which bounced back from a 77-54 loss at LSU on Tuesday. Miller leads the Aggies in scoring and rebounds, and his 9.2 rebounds is first in the SEC.
Jay Jay Chandler added 10 points for the Aggies, who have won seven of the last nine games against the Tigers.
Auburn (6-4, 0-2) cut a nine-point deficit with 5:34 left and tied it 66-all with 14 seconds remaining. JT Thor had a steal and two dunks during the stretch.
Johnson finished with 20 points. Allen Flanigan had 16 points including four 3-pointers for Auburn (6-4, 0-2). Thor finished with 10 points.
The Tigers shot 11 of 33 (33%) from distance. They entered having the most games of 15 or more 3s since coach Bruce Pearl took over prior to the 2014-15 season.
The Aggies closed the first half on a 15-4 run for an eight-point advantage, and then stretched it to 45-31 — their largest lead of the game — with 15:49 to play.
Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 68, Auburn 66
Reed Arena (Bryan-College Station)
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M defeated Auburn, 68-66, Saturday in its SEC home opener.
- The Aggies now lead the all-time series 12-5.
- Texas A&M has won seven of the last nine meetings with the Tigers.
- Tied at 66-66 with 14 seconds left, sophomore Andre Gordon drove down the middle lane to hit a game-winning layup with two seconds left.
- After being down 18-17 with 5:31 remaining in the first half, the Aggies went on a 16-4 scoring run to take a 33-22 advantage at the break.
- Texas A&M forced Auburn to shoot 26.9% (7-of-26) in the first half, the lowest opponent shooting percentage in a half this season.
- The Aggies held Auburn to 22 points in the opening stanza, the second lowest opponent point total in a half this season.
- A&M made nine 3-pointers, the second most in a game this season.
- The Maroon & White shot a season-best 81.8% (9-of-11) from the free-throw line.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Andre Gordon, Quenton Jackson, Kevin Marfo, Emanuel Miller and Jaxson Robinson (1-0) for the first time this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Sophomore Emanuel Miller led the Aggies in scoring with 16 points, extending his streak of seven consecutive games in double-digits. Miller also matched his season high of eight field goals made.
- Senior Quenton Jackson added nine points, which included a pair of threes.
- Sophomore Andre Gordon registered his fourth double-digit scoring effort this season. He finished with 10 points, and also matched his season high in rebounds with four.
- Freshman Jaxson Robinson made his first career start and recorded a season-high six points on a pair of threes.
- Senior Jay Jay Chandler scored 10 points, his third game with 10-or-more points in the last four he has appeared in.
- Freshman Hayden Hefner returned to the court for the first time since Dec. 12 and put up six points.
- Graduate transfer Kevin Marfo grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
- Sophomore Jonathan Akue had a team-high plus minus of 17, which was 11 points higher than the next Aggie.
- Buzz Williams is 22-16 in his career at Texas A&M and 275-171 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M hits the road to take on South Carolina on Wednesday, Jan. 6 inside Colonial Life Arena. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPNU.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On Andre Gordon’s game-winning layup…
“We probably spent more time on special teams in the last three weeks than at any other period since we arrived here. Both league opponents we’ve played so far have unique sideline and out-of-bounds defenses. Our staff did a great job of presenting that. The one thing I want to say about Dre is that he didn’t score on the action. Auburn stopped the action, but Andre’s willingness to step into that moment is who he is. I think guys that are not scared of that sort of moment are the ones that are willing to carry the burden if things don’t go right. There are a lot of guys who want to be in the moment when it goes their way, but the separator is when it doesn’t go right, can they carry the burden of that? Andre can. He’s never scared.”
On Jay Jay Chandler’s defensive effort…
“I think that Jay Jay is our best positional defender. He’s been our best positional defender since we’ve been here. When Jay Jay doesn’t reach, and is in the right position, he’s easily our best defender. He has gotten to the point where he stopped reaching, and you couple that with the fact that he understands, relative to his basketball IQ, where he is supposed to be positionally. It allows him to guard really good offensive players.”
On Jaxson Robinson’s development as a player…
“Our whole team loves Jax. Our kids love Jax. His demeanor and his spirit; he’s a beautiful human being. His parents have raised him so well. If you were to pull up an encyclopedia and search for ‘how to be a good parent’ they would be in there. He’s had the best week of training since he got here. He’s figuring out how hard you have to play. He’s starting to figure out how hard it is to be successful at this level. This was his best week in the best two games we’ve had. He earned the right to start today.”
Sophomore guard Andre Gordon
On his game-winning basket…
“I kind of took charge on my own. I’ve been building confidence in practice, so I played off of two feet, didn’t turn the ball over, and got a shot off with over a second left so we could have a chance at a rebound and putback. I just played aggressively and made the right play.”
On maintaining momentum at the end of the game…
“We tried to keep our momentum where it was for the entire game. They are a very high-major program capable of hitting threes. We needed to contest a little bit better towards the end of the game. I think that they scored a lot of their 3-pointers in transition, so we have to do a better job of getting to the ball and finding shooters. They had four to five shooters on the floor at all times.”
Senior guard Quenton Jackson
On the team’s ability to stay ahead at the end of the game…
“We had to just keep fighting. We did a great job in the first half defensively, and we kept them from hitting a lot of their shots. At halftime, it was 33-22 and they only had seven points off of regular shots. The rest of their points came off of turnovers and offensive rebounds, so we did a very good job defensively at guarding the ball. In the second half, we relaxed a little bit. We became content, and that’s how they got back in the game. We cleaned it up at the end and came out with the win.”
On Andre Gordon’s game winning shot…
“I was just hoping that we would be able to get a shot onto the rim, but when I saw Dre get deep into the interior of the defense and pop his feet on a pump fake, I kind of knew he was going to make it, or at least get the ball on the rim. I have to guard Dre a lot in practice, so I know what kind of moves he likes to use, and when I saw him go up with two feet, I knew it was going in.”
AUBURN QUOTES
Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening Statement…
“During the first half, they made it very difficult for us to run the offense that we wanted to run. They put a lot of pressure on our point guards and we were having to handle the ball really far away from our basket. Even though we were terribly disrupted offensively in the first half, and give A&M credit for that, we continued to guard. We turned them over 13 times. It was an ugly first half but at least we competed. Our kids have excellent character, they stayed in it, and we started moving the ball better and made our shots in the second half. I’m very proud of our kids for the way they competed.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics