Growing pains were anticipated. They were not expected to be this excruciating, though.
Eighth-ranked Gonzaga (4-0) put a major hurting on Texas A&M (2-1) Friday night as the Zags dealt the Ags a 79-49 college basketball loss before a crowd of 10,344 at Reed Arena.
“I’m not trying to be a prophet, (but) I anticipated what we saw,” first-year A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “I think (Gonzaga is) really good, incredibly well-coached, an elite-level roster relative to their style of play and how they want to play.
“Not that I want to lose, but I think having this rep this early at home with the crowd that we had … it’s liberating is what I told the team. Now, there’s piles and piles of evidence that strain maybe toward what we’re not asking you to do; it won’t work.”
Indeed, the loss wasn’t surprising. Neither was Gonzaga’s margin of victory. But the painful fact that A&M had more turnovers (18) than field goals (17) was alarming.
The Aggies were denied in the paint. They were harassed on the perimeter. The result was a rash of turnovers and wretched shooting that caused a scoring drought as parched as a West Texas summer.
Wendell Mitchell scored 14 points, and Josh Nebo had 11 to lead the Aggies, who were out-rebounded 46-29.
Gonzaga had four players score in double figures, and three were from the Dallas area.
Freshman forward Drew Timme netted 11 points, while guards Ryan Woolridge and former A&M star Admon Gilder led with 16 points each.
“It felt amazing,” Gilder said. “I consider this place my second home, so at the end of the day, us coming in and getting the victory was meaningful for me and this program.”
GIlder had 10 points, and Woolridge had 12 in the first half that was as demoralizing as it was decisive. The Aggies committed ten turnovers while not managing a single assist. They were scoreless for more than eight minutes and fell behind by 21 points.
“I feel like it was difficult for us to get into the groove,” said junior guard Savion Flagg, who finished with six points. “A couple of turnovers here and there. Them getting a couple of offensive rebounds and really executing off those. I feel like that just built into us not getting into our flow on offense.”
A&M actually led 14-11 after Nebo hit a pair of free throws with 11:10 showing in the first half. Nebo also scored A&M’s next points on a traditional three-point play.
But more than eight minutes elapsed in between. The Aggies were 0-for-9 and committed five turnovers in an 8:34 drought.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga went on a 20-0 scoring ruin (no, that’s not a typo) to take a 31-14 lead with 3:10 remaining in the half.
The Zags eventually took a 40-19 halftime lead. A&M never got closer than 18 points in the second half.
Despite the anticipated loss, Williams appeared remarkably upbeat in a postgame Q&A session. The indicated there were silver linings.
Freshman Andre Gordon was aggressive and had some good moments. Nebo had some strong effort inside. Mitchell is striving to fit into Williams’ system.
Williams was also encouraged that A&M played almost even with Gonzaga in the first 16 minutes of the second half.
“They’re (A&M players) trying to do what we’re asking. That’s encouraging,” he said. “Whether their old, young, good, need-to-get-better … we’ve got to figure out a mix.
“Typically speaking, the mix is going to be whoever is trying to do exactly what we’re asking them to do.”
