BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s basketball team couldn’t hold off Wofford as the Terriers rallied for a 67-62 win over the Aggies on Tuesday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (6-5) took a four-point advantage into halftime and led by as many as 10 points early in the second half before the Terriers began to claw back into the game. After going up by 10 at the 16:25 mark, the Aggies went nearly five minutes without a field goal and the Terriers took their first lead of the game at 46-44 at 11:45.
The two teams traded the lead six times over the next nine minutes before Wofford took the lead for good with just over two minutes remaining. Six straight free throws by Wofford freshman Jackson Paveletzke kept the Aggies at arm’s length down the stretch for the five-point margin of victory.
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies with 20 while matching his career high with five 3-pointers. He tallied his second straight 20-point game and fourth of the year and he also had a team-high three steals. Graduate guard Dexter Dennis pulled down a team-high six rebounds as he went over the 600-rebound plateau for his career. Taylor and senior Andre Gordon tied for the team lead with three assists.
Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Postgame Quotes/Notes
Wofford 67, Texas A&M 62
Reed Arena (Bryan-College Station, Texas)
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On the outcome…
“I tried to boil it down to what I thought the four things would be required today: Play really really hard, guard the ball and don’t let it get to the middle without fouling, control the glass on both ends of the floor and don’t turn it over. We knew it would be a low-possession, slow game. We probably could have made a couple more free throws, percentage-wise. You can’t give a team that plays at that pace 13 more opportunities to shoot the ball. Those come from rebounds and turnovers. I thought they deserved to win. I thought the vibe of the game always felt uneasy. The best portion was arguably the first four minutes of the second half. I thought we were getting consecutive stops and we got a turkey during that span. We had too many turnovers to close the game. Just too many breakdowns in order to beat a disciplined team and we got what we deserved.”
Wade Taylor IV
On Moving on From This Game…
“We just didn’t execute when we needed to. We’re hoping to come back from the break and rebound from this. We have a lot of bumps and errors to correct, but it’s early and we have time to correct them before SEC play.”
Andre Gordon
On Mistakes in The Game…
“We had good control of the game. We were up by 10 points, and we got comfortable. We shouldn’t get comfortable. We should want to do well under pressure, and we let up towards the end of the game. We need to stop turning the ball over and take shots every possession. We allowed them to get too many offensive rebounds, and drive too often, and that put us in a bind. We need to come out and fight, regardless of our opponent.”
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M fell to the Wofford Terriers, 67-62, Tuesday afternoon at Reed Arena.
- The Maroon & White drop to 6-5 overall.
- The Aggies fall to 1-1 in the all-time series with the Terriers.
TEAM NOTES
- The Aggies recorded a season high six blocks.
- The Maroon & White scored 11 fast break points.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Dexter Dennis, Wade Taylor IV, Andre Gordon, Tyrece Radford and Julius Marble for the third time this season (1-2).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Dexter Dennis
- Led the team with six rebounds to surpass 600 career rebounds.
- Matched his season high in blocks with two.
Andre Gordon
- Matched his season high in assists with three.
Wade Taylor IV
- Recorded 20 points to surpass 500 career points.
- Tallied double-digit points for the ninth time this season and the second consecutive game with 20-or-more points.
- Matched his career high in 3-pointers made with five.
- Scored eight points at the half.
- Dished out three assists and garnered three steals.
- Was one rebound shy of 100 career rebounds.
Solomon Washington
- Slammed down back-to-back dunks, his second and third, respectively, of his young career.
- Finished with seven points, while hauling in three rebounds and logging a block.