Credit to 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s basketball team dropped a 71-68 decision to the Ole Miss Rebels in front of a season-high crowd of 12,610 on Saturday night at Reed Arena.
The Aggies rallied from an 11-point deficit to take a late lead but couldn’t hold off the Rebels as they fell to 3-4 in SEC playand 12-8 overall, while the Rebels improved to 17-3 overall and 4-3 in SEC play. With 3:38 remaining, the Aggies held a seven-point advantage, but the lead evaporated in 90 seconds and then a deep 3-pointer from Jaylen Murray gave the Rebels a lead they would not relinquish.
Junior guard Wade Taylor IV led all scorers with 30 points, marking his fifth 30-point game of the season. Taylor IV hit 10-of-20 shots, including five 3-pointers, while grabbing six rebounds, dishing out three assists and making two steals. It’s the most 30-point games in a season by an Aggie since Joe Wilbert tallied seven in 1994-95.
Joining Taylor IV in double figures was graduate Tyrece Radford with 13 points. Junior transfer Jace Carter matched his career high with 12 rebounds, including five off the offensive glass. Andersson Garcia and Henry Coleman III combined to chip in 13 boards, including seven offensive caroms.
Continuing their season-long trend of strong offensive rebounds, the Aggies grabbed 18 offensive boards that led to 19 second-chance points. Facing a distinct height disadvantage, the Aggies fought for 34 points in the paint while limiting Ole Miss to 24.
Fueled by a trio of first-half 3-pointers from Taylor IV, the Aggies steadily built an early lead that eventually bulged to nine points with just over three minutes remaining, but the Rebels took over from that point with a 10-0 run that yielded their first lead of the game. The Aggies regained the lead before Ole Miss closed out the first half with a long 3-pointer at the buzzer for a two-point advantage at the break.
GAME NOTES:
REACHING MILESTONES: Wade Taylor IV dished out three assists to reach 300 for his career and become the 13th Aggie to have crossed this threshold. Taylor IV scored 30 with 10 field goals and went 5-of-9 from the three-point line. This was the fifth time he has scored over 30 this season and the third time in SEC play.
CARTER CAROMS: Jace Carter racked up a game-high 12 rebounds to tie his career number of boards and his most in SEC play.
THE 12THMAN: A raucous crowd of 12,610 attended the annual BTHO Breast Cancer game to mark the highest crowd in Reed Arena this season.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On the importance of making free throws…
“You can always point to a myriad of different things. We need to shoot a higher percentage from the free throw line. We are committed to doing that. We’ve been working on that everyday as team and individually. Our guys have been great in that regard. But you’re fighting such an invisible margin and to be up seven in a game like this with four minutes to play you need to win. But if you shoot 22 free throws you need to make more than 12 too, so there’s a lot of things you could point to.”
On staying consistent in rebounding…
“We did a good job, not a great job, on the offensive glass in the first and second half. We did not do a good job on the defensive glass in the first half. We are reliant on doing a great job on the offensive glass and over the last three or four games our defensive rebound percentage has been remarkably better, which is what has helped our defense – we’ve been able to finish possessions with a rebound. Too many times in the first half we did not do that.”
Junior Guard Jace Carter
On the loss and SEC games…
“We just have to be better in the last minutes. We have to play 40 minutes, it’s hard to win SEC basketball games. It is frustrating but we’re not going to stop what we’re doing. We have to keep going everyday.”
On Ole Miss’s length…
“We play aggressive. We knew they have two seven-footers. Number three is number one in the country at blocking shots and we knew that so we had to be aware of that. Their offense starts with blocked shots so we knew we had to be smart around the rim, but I don’t think it changed our game plan.”