Aggies suffer second straight SEC loss, 66-43, in lackluster outing against Missouri

The Aggies may have hit rock bottom on Saturday.

If so, that’s one of the few things Texas A&M hit in a dismal 66-43 Southeastern Conference basketball loss to Missouri at Reed Arena.

The Aggies (7-9, 1-4) shot just 26 percent, made just 4 of 22 attempts from 3-point range and had with fewer than 11 minutes remaining had covered only six shots from the floor.

It gets worse. The Aggies also were outrebounded 39-33 and outscored in the paint 28-10. This despite Missouri (10-6, 1-3) entering the game ranked last in the SEC in scoring and rebounding.

By game’s end, the announced crowd of 6,296 was reduced to cheering a foul by walk-on reserve guard Mark French.

Josh Nebo came off the bench to score 12 points and Jay Jay Chandler had 11. But A&M’s top four scorers — T.J. Starks, Savion Flagg, Wendell Mitchell, and Christian Mekowulu — combined for 14 points.

Meanwhile, guard Jordan Geist scored 17 points, forward Jeremiah Tilmon had 14 and guard Mark Smith had 13 for Missouri. The Aggies effort was so lackluster coach Billy Kennedy was compelled to apologize for it.

“I want to apologize to the fans and the 12th man for our effort, which was obviously poor,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Missouri. Missouri defensively is very hard to score against. They disrupted us.”

“Obviously, I did a poor job getting our guys to play at a level I think we’re capable of playing.” 

No doubt, Missouri put forth a strong defensive effort. Coach Cuonzo Martin’s strategy was to take away the paint and invite the Aggies to shoot from the perimeter. It was a plan President Donald Trump could appreciate.

“They had to beat us probably shooting a lot of 3’s. You have to build that wall,” Martin said. “I thought we did a great job really kind of building that wall.”

The Aggies ran into a metaphorical brick wall about midway through the first half. They were tied 12-12 after John Walker hit a 3-pointer with 10:47 showing. Missouri took over from there.

Geist hit a 3-pointer to start a 9-2 run for a 23-14 Tigers lead. Mitchell interrupted the rally by putting back his own miss with 5:31 showing. However, from that point, the Aggies made just one more field goal over the next 14 minutes until Brandon Mahan hit a 3-pointer with 10:50 left in the game.

By then the Tigers were cruising with a 50-27 lead. The margin reached 58-30 on a 3-pointer by Smith with 7:16 to play. Also by then, there was some sense the Aggies had given up.

Elisa Schmitt, TexAgs

A&M forward Josh Nebo may have been the only bright spot for the Aggies, scoring 12 points off the bench. 

“It’s kind of hard for me to speak for my teammates. I never gave up,” said Nebo, who had 10 points in the second half. “I just kept believing even though the score wasn’t what we wanted it to be. We just had to keep playing hard.”

But there wasn’t much indication that was the case. In fact, Kennedy called on French and reserve Chris Collins to play the final 11 minutes. That move might have been interpreted as giving up. Kennedy said he was instead sending a message.

“I wouldn’t say I was giving up,” he said. “I was going to play guys that would compete and play the way that Texas A&M should be playing.”