No. 20 Aggies cruise from start to finish in 92-69 defeat of Arkansas

Jalen Jones said the Aggies wanted to make a statement.

It was received loud and clear by the 11,332 at Reed Arena.

Jones scored a career-high 28 points, Alex Caruso set the Texas A&M all-time steals record and the Aggies dominated defensively to post a 92-69 victory over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference basketball opener on Saturday.

The 20th-ranked Aggies (11-2) built as much as a 22-point halftime lead and never let up. In doing so, they were sending a message to the rest of the SEC that they would indeed be a major factor in this year’s championship race.

“We definitely wanted to make a statement to the SEC that we’re still about our business,” Jones said. “We wanted to build on our non-conference schedule. We made a statement for the most part.”

Who could argue? Certainly not anyone in Fayetteville.

The Aggies held the advantage in almost every facet of the game. They shot 49.2 percent from the field, which included 11 three-pointers. They outscored Arkansas 38-30 in the paint, 19-6 on fast-breaks and 31-28 off the bench.

They also forced 15 Arkansas turnovers, which were parlayed into 22 A&M points.

Jones’ 28-point gem was complemented by Danuel House with 14 points, Caruso with 11 and Admon Gilder and Tonny Trocha-Morelos with 10 points each.

A&M’s defense also held Arkansas to 40.7 percent shooting and limited 6-11 junior forward Moses Kingsley to just 11 points. Five of those came via free throws. Kingsley entered the game averaging 16.9 points.

The Razorbacks (6-7) were led by guard Anthlon Bell with 16 points.

“Defensively, I was proud of our guys for setting the tone and trying to do a good job on Moses Kingsley and Anthlon Bell,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “I thought we did a good job of handling their press. We only had four turnovers in the first half.

“Once we flowed in our offense we made some shots. It helps when Jalen is stretching the defense and shooting the way he was the first half, and really the whole game.”

Jones opened the game with a three-pointer from well behind the top-of-the-key, which hinted of what was to come.

He would convert 9 of 13 shots, including 4 of 6 from three-point range. He also hit 6 of 7 free throws.

“Any time you see the ball going in it gets you going a little bit,” Jones said. “I got that one right off the bat; it felt good. We started off good and finished it off throughout the game.”

All the suspense was over quickly.

Caruso needed just one steal to set the A&M school record. He picked up the 229th of his career less than four minutes into the game.

Not long after that Caruso hit a three-pointer from the right wing to start a 15-2 run that would put A&M in control midway through the first half.

Caruso’s three-pointer erased Arkansas’ only lead of the game (it lasted 30 seconds) and gave the Aggies a 15-13 edge with 10:31 showing.

Jones followed with a steal, which he took for a layup and drew a foul on Arkansas’ Willy Kouassi.

Jones then finished off the three-point play. It was first of five straight free throws he’d make in the run.

Gilder also added a couple of free throws and hit a three-pointer to give the Aggies a 27-15 lead. The margin would reach as much as 22 points before A&M went into halftime with a 47-26 lead.

“We had to play almost a perfect game to have a chance,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “Early on it was back-and-forth and then they had one of those spurts. You look up and you’re down 20 at halftime. It was an uphill battle. You’ve got to fight, fight, fight.”

Kennedy was well aware Arkansas had fought back from huge deficits before.

The Razorbacks rallied from 14-points down in an 88-85 loss at Wake Forest on Dec. 4. Last Wednesday they came back from a 22-point deficit to force overtime in an 85-81 loss at Dayton.

Kennedy reminded his team of that.

“We brought that up at halftime,” Kennedy said. “They were down 22 and had a chance to win at Dayton. They did a heck of a job at Wake Forest and came back and took the lead.”

Kennedy also reminded the Aggies about how they protected a big halftime lead with a strong second half in an 80-61 romp over Baylor on Dec. 19.

This time, House opened the second half with a thundering dunk.

“(Like) The Baylor game … the first five minutes of the second half was critical,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t think we came out good in beginning of second half. We got House’s dunk. We made some athletic plays kept us enthused about the game. Experience really helped there.”

House also made the pass on an alley-oop dunk by Trocha-Morelos. Caruso also got another steal which led to another dunk. Jones also drove around an Arkansas defender for a yet another dunk to delight the crowd.

That’s three seniors consistently making big plays as the Aggies opened up as much as a 29-point lead.

And they made one heck of a statement.