Ugly offense for most of the game and sloppy defense in the first half, but having to really crank up the defense in the second half in order to claw back in it could pay real dividends.

We didn't have much margin for error defensively in the second half and we really strung together some high energy, disciplined defensive possessions. That kind of effort shows us how good we can be on defense.

AggieCrew44 said:

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I think we needed that adversity before going to Vegas. We absolutely had to perform that half and we did

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Against Oregon or Creighton a la Iowa St last year definitely. At home against Southern, inexcusable and shouldn't of happened. They better feel lucky that Southern couldn't make a shot to save their life.

Not making free throws is a head scratching wtf for me.

Detective Jake Peralta said:

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Just your run of the mill 17 point win! I don't know what everyone was worried about

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Would have covered if not for conjuring the great ghost of Savion Flagg at the FT line.

The Marksman said:

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Sidenote: attendance was frankly embarrassing. I did my part, but stands were super empty. I know it's nothing new and there's no easy way to fix this, but man these players deserve so much better. They are a top 25 team and get almost no support from their fellow Ags.

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It's a Wednesday in November against Southern. There are maybe 10 programs in the country that even remotely fill an arena for a game like this.

The Marksman said:

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Sidenote: attendance was frankly embarrassing. I did my part, but stands were super empty. I know it's nothing new and there's no easy way to fix this, but man these players deserve so much better. They are a top 25 team and get almost no support from their fellow Ags.

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It's really frustrating to see and I guess after 20 years of many good teams I realize it won't change

Topher17 said:

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The Marksman said:

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Sidenote: attendance was frankly embarrassing. I did my part, but stands were super empty. I know it's nothing new and there's no easy way to fix this, but man these players deserve so much better. They are a top 25 team and get almost no support from their fellow Ags.

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It's a Wednesday in November against Southern. There are maybe 10 programs in the country that even remotely fill an arena for a game like this.

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May be true, Iowa announced crowd vs Southern was 8k and our announced was 7k. Not sure how either relate to butts in seats but on paper it was similar

I'm saying the way Reed looks makes the emptiness stand out more.

But it's kinda been a widely accepted thing for awhile that Reed is ugly, at least on here.

Complete Idiot said:

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HotardRat said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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Topher17 said:

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The Marksman said:

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Sidenote: attendance was frankly embarrassing. I did my part, but stands were super empty. I know it's nothing new and there's no easy way to fix this, but man these players deserve so much better. They are a top 25 team and get almost no support from their fellow Ags.

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It's a Wednesday in November against Southern. There are maybe 10 programs in the country that even remotely fill an arena for a game like this.

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May be true, Iowa announced crowd vs Southern was 8k and our announced was 7k. Not sure how either relate to butts in seats but on paper it was similar

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Reed being too large and one of the ugliest venues in the country doesn't help

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How many venues have you visited? I've never really heard fans say they don't like going because a venue is aesthetically ugly

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Maybe not but good/new venues definitely boost attendance.

bobinator said:

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Reed is objectively ugly. It looks like the facility on top of a giant underground facility where the Empire has enslaved Ewoks working in the mines or something.

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I thought we manufactured orcs that inhabit the steam tunnels in Reed???

HotardRat said:

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I'm saying the way Reed looks makes the emptiness stand out more.

But it's kinda been a widely accepted thing for awhile that Reed is ugly, at least on here.

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More brutalist on the inside than in the outside???

Seven man rotation for the entire 2nd Half. No Payne, Hefner or Wilcher.

94chem said:

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bobinator said:

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The Tower of Orthanc at Isengard would look better than Reed

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Wooo. Look at me. I take a boring discussion on attendance and geek it up even worse.

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I was impressed by the reference since I started it…

Complete Idiot said:

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The Marksman said:

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Sidenote: attendance was frankly embarrassing. I did my part, but stands were super empty. I know it's nothing new and there's no easy way to fix this, but man these players deserve so much better. They are a top 25 team and get almost no support from their fellow Ags.

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It's really frustrating to see and I guess after 20 years of many good teams I realize it won't change

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It's a big commitment for out of town folks to come in for games like the one last night. I plan to for wake forest but couldn't even find people to give tickets to last night.

It really has to be the local people who fill these types of games. If I was local it would consider it to be great cheap entertainment. Maybe not worth the hassle though? Idk.

Not an ESPN+ subscriber, so didn't get to watch. Anyone have an idea why Payne's mins were low?

Yea. I'm low key trying to get my wife to consider BCS for retirement. I'd swap FB tickets for basketball and baseball. But for the time being, no way I can make that game.

I'm wondering if Buzz decided we needed more shooters (both 3pt and FT) to get back into the game. Part of the strategy in the 2H seemed to be getting back to forcing the issue and getting to the line.

Southern was perfectly content with fouling Payne in the 1H and letting him miss FT rather than make a layup.

That was a very frustrating game to watch. We had 20 offensive rebounds at the half and were down 14. That almost seems impossible, but it happened. Then we outscore them by 31 in the second half. I am glad we were able to get things going and pull out a win against a much weaker team, but we won't get away with that level of performance most nights.

BTW we ended the night with more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds.

BuzzFan24 said:

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Not an ESPN+ subscriber, so didn't get to watch. Anyone have an idea why Payne's mins were low?

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They were playing 6'6 and 6'8 guys down low and they seemed too quick for Payne. When they didn't foul him, they were slapping the ball away and forcing him further away from the basket.

Vary glad the Aggies decided to pull their heads out of their arses in the second half.

CapCityAg89 said:

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Yea. I'm low key trying to get my wife to consider BCS for retirement. I'd swap FB tickets for basketball and baseball. But for the time being, no way I can make that game.

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My wife and I moved to BCS from ATX five years ago. We've had season tickets to football and basketball until this season when we dropped fb.

That "hard choice" was pretty easy. The tickets are significantly less. The seats are fantastic. The parking is a breeze; even for a highlight game (like UK). And there are more games to go to. All of that said, the only way this is possible is that we ARE local… we live very close to West Campus.

As has been observed earlier with hilarious LOTR metaphors, Reed is an ugly facility. And I had not thought it too big, until now, but it is. The student sections are stuck at the ends of the courts and just are not fun venues for them to watch the game. There are almost always a sea of empty seats, game after game. If I were Coach Williams I would _very_ strategic about which games I invited recruits to attend. It's embarrassing.

We love Aggie basketball. And I think Coach Williams is about as perfect a fit here as anyone else. I actually think this team has the best chance to go far since we have been here. However, last night's game was won on hurt pride and not strategy. Buzz needs to get his team working together as a team offensively as he does defensively.

Sorry for the rant. Happy for the win. Hope this lights a fire for Vegas.

ABM

I feel like retirement in BCS needs its own forum. You're living the dream.

bobinator said:

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People just aren't going to show up for these games. Never have, never will, is what it is.

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And yet they do for midweek games at Olsen.

Our fans base deserves to see great football and baseball. We should count it as a blessing that basketball has a pulse given the tepid support.

Ranked #24 for a mid-week game in the South/Southwest means absolutely nothing.

The loss to UCF to start the year cratered any hope of us having decent non-conference attendance.

Adam87inSA said:

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bobinator said:

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People just aren't going to show up for these games. Never have, never will, is what it is.

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And yet they do for midweek games at Olsen.

Our fans base deserves to see great football and baseball. We should count it as a blessing that basketball has a pulse given the tepid support.

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To be fair Olsen does have roughly half the capacity of Reed. 4K fans at Olsen (~2/3 capacity) is going to look a lot different than 4K at Reed (<1/3 capacity).

BuzzFan24 said:

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Not an ESPN+ subscriber, so didn't get to watch.

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It was also on SEC+.

And last night is an example of how consistently poor shooting from the field is going to make this a fringe Top 25 team at best. You simply can't shoot sub 40% every night out and hope to survive upsets by turning it into a rock fight.