Billy Kennedy
Caruso & Collins
Texas A&M Basketball
Aggies end the skid in 71-56 home victory against Ole Miss
Back at home Texas A&M once again played like a Southeastern Conference contender.
The Aggies broke out of their slump in a big way with a balanced offense and a tremendous defensive effort to post a 71-56 SEC basketball victory over Ole Miss on Tuesday night before 6,460 at Reed Arena.
Senior guard Danuel House hit a three-pointer to start an 8-0 run early in the second half that staked the Aggies to a 53-40 lead. The margin never dipped below nine points after that.
House scored 13 points, Tyler Davis had 11 and Anthony Collins and D.J. Hogg had 10 apiece as the Aggies (19-7, 8-5 SEC) broke a five-game losing streak in SEC play.
They did so by excelling in the areas which had been problematic during their skid.
They out-rebounded the Rebels 50-36 and allowed just 11 offensive boards and only six second-chance points. They committed only 10 turnovers and played exceptional defense.
Ole Miss (16-10, 6-7) did convert eight from three-point range, but that was on 30 attempts. The Rebels managed just a single three-point goal on 13 attempts in the second half.
“We’re back home and we had some purpose, I thought,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kenendy said. “Holding them to 56 points … we took care of the ball, we weren’t throwing the ball all over the place.”
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The Aggies' defense and ball security, as they had so many times during A&M's blazing start to the season, paved the way to the win.
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Senior guard Alex Caruso said the Aggies played with a sense of urgency that might have been lacking in four consecutive losses since defeating Iowa State, 72-62, on Jan. 30.
“We were coming off four losses, there was not a lot of people at Reed, I don’t know what I was expecting,” Caruso said. “I know in my head I was telling myself: ‘We can’t lose this game. We’ve got to get our sense of urgency up.’ You see through the year what we’re capable of when we do those things.”
The Aggies definitely demonstrated a sense of urgency on the defensive end as they held Ole Miss to 31.8 percent shooting and frustrated star guard Stefan Moody.
Moody entered the game averaging 23 points. He managed 17 points with only five coming in the second half. Moody hit just one of 11 field goal attempts in the second half.
“I think we guarded really well tonight and wore them down a little bit,” Caruso said. “They got a little tired, I think. We held them to 56 points. Anytime you do that you have a chance to win.
“We pressured more. They kind of did what they wanted in the first five or 10 minutes, but we changed our defense and that helped us.”
Indeed, A&M’s recent problems appeared to be continuing in the early going. The Aggies allowed five three-pointers — three in a row from Moody — as OIe Miss held a nine-point lead, 25-16, midway through the first half.
But then the Aggies started to resemble the team that posted seven consecutive victories to open SEC play.
Hogg came off the bench to hit a three-pointer from the top-of-the-key and freshman Admon Gilder followed with a driving layup.
Those back-to-back baskets ignited a 16-3 run in which six players scored and was highlighted by consecutive dunks by Tonny Trocha-Morelos, Hogg and Caruso.
The Aggies took a 32-28 lead when Collins ended the run by driving down the middle of the lane for a layup.
Ole Miss’ Thomasz Gielo, who finished with 15 points, hit a 10-footer and Marcanvis Hymon scored from the baseline to stop the Aggies’ run.
However, that just momentarily interrupted A&M’s momentum. The Aggies scored six consecutive free throws and House got loose to put back a missed layup for a 40-33 lead.
“Our bench played great for us,” Kennedy said. “D.J. and Admon came in and gave us some really good minutes. They kept hitting threes and we kept hanging in there. Anthony Collins had a really good game and did a good job keeping us organized and doing good things on both ends of the floor.”
The Aggies immediately regained their momentum in the second half.
House opened the scoring with a three-pointer and hit another a couple of minutes later. Davis followed the second one with a nice spin move in the paint for a layup. Then Jalen Jones got loose for a dunk and Tavario Miller added a free throw to give the Aggies a 53-40 lead.
They never let Ole Miss get back in contention.
The victory should give the Aggies a boost of momentum heading into Saturday's game against Kentucky.
“It’s obviously some relief, no question,” Kennedy said. “Our guys have been good for us all year. When you’re good, put in effort and listen, you want to see them succeed. We came up short and didn’t execute like we needed to on the road.
“We recognized that and made changes to get back in the winning column.”
The Aggies broke out of their slump in a big way with a balanced offense and a tremendous defensive effort to post a 71-56 SEC basketball victory over Ole Miss on Tuesday night before 6,460 at Reed Arena.
Senior guard Danuel House hit a three-pointer to start an 8-0 run early in the second half that staked the Aggies to a 53-40 lead. The margin never dipped below nine points after that.
House scored 13 points, Tyler Davis had 11 and Anthony Collins and D.J. Hogg had 10 apiece as the Aggies (19-7, 8-5 SEC) broke a five-game losing streak in SEC play.
They did so by excelling in the areas which had been problematic during their skid.
They out-rebounded the Rebels 50-36 and allowed just 11 offensive boards and only six second-chance points. They committed only 10 turnovers and played exceptional defense.
Ole Miss (16-10, 6-7) did convert eight from three-point range, but that was on 30 attempts. The Rebels managed just a single three-point goal on 13 attempts in the second half.
“We’re back home and we had some purpose, I thought,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kenendy said. “Holding them to 56 points … we took care of the ball, we weren’t throwing the ball all over the place.”
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The Aggies' defense and ball security, as they had so many times during A&M's blazing start to the season, paved the way to the win.
{"Module":"photo","Alignment":"left","Size":"large","Caption":"The Aggies\u0027 defense and ball security, as they had so many times during A\u0026M\u0027s blazing start to the season, paved the way to the win.","MediaItemID":66107}
“We were coming off four losses, there was not a lot of people at Reed, I don’t know what I was expecting,” Caruso said. “I know in my head I was telling myself: ‘We can’t lose this game. We’ve got to get our sense of urgency up.’ You see through the year what we’re capable of when we do those things.”
The Aggies definitely demonstrated a sense of urgency on the defensive end as they held Ole Miss to 31.8 percent shooting and frustrated star guard Stefan Moody.
Moody entered the game averaging 23 points. He managed 17 points with only five coming in the second half. Moody hit just one of 11 field goal attempts in the second half.
“I think we guarded really well tonight and wore them down a little bit,” Caruso said. “They got a little tired, I think. We held them to 56 points. Anytime you do that you have a chance to win.
“We pressured more. They kind of did what they wanted in the first five or 10 minutes, but we changed our defense and that helped us.”
Indeed, A&M’s recent problems appeared to be continuing in the early going. The Aggies allowed five three-pointers — three in a row from Moody — as OIe Miss held a nine-point lead, 25-16, midway through the first half.
But then the Aggies started to resemble the team that posted seven consecutive victories to open SEC play.
Hogg came off the bench to hit a three-pointer from the top-of-the-key and freshman Admon Gilder followed with a driving layup.
Those back-to-back baskets ignited a 16-3 run in which six players scored and was highlighted by consecutive dunks by Tonny Trocha-Morelos, Hogg and Caruso.
The Aggies took a 32-28 lead when Collins ended the run by driving down the middle of the lane for a layup.
Ole Miss’ Thomasz Gielo, who finished with 15 points, hit a 10-footer and Marcanvis Hymon scored from the baseline to stop the Aggies’ run.
However, that just momentarily interrupted A&M’s momentum. The Aggies scored six consecutive free throws and House got loose to put back a missed layup for a 40-33 lead.
Our bench played great for us. D.J. and Admon came in and gave us some really good minutes. They kept hitting threes and we kept hanging in there. Anthony Collins had a really good game and did a good job keeping us organized and doing good things on both ends of the floor.
{"Module":"quote","Alignment":"right","Quote":"Our bench played great for us. D.J. and Admon came in and gave us some really good minutes. They kept hitting threes and we kept hanging in there. Anthony Collins had a really good game and did a good job keeping us organized and doing good things on both ends of the floor.","Author":"Billy Kennedy"}
It seemed the Aggies would take that margin into the break, but after a turnover with 1.7 seconds left Moody drilled a three-pointer from the corner to wrest some of the momentum away from the Aggies.“Our bench played great for us,” Kennedy said. “D.J. and Admon came in and gave us some really good minutes. They kept hitting threes and we kept hanging in there. Anthony Collins had a really good game and did a good job keeping us organized and doing good things on both ends of the floor.”
The Aggies immediately regained their momentum in the second half.
House opened the scoring with a three-pointer and hit another a couple of minutes later. Davis followed the second one with a nice spin move in the paint for a layup. Then Jalen Jones got loose for a dunk and Tavario Miller added a free throw to give the Aggies a 53-40 lead.
They never let Ole Miss get back in contention.
The victory should give the Aggies a boost of momentum heading into Saturday's game against Kentucky.
“It’s obviously some relief, no question,” Kennedy said. “Our guys have been good for us all year. When you’re good, put in effort and listen, you want to see them succeed. We came up short and didn’t execute like we needed to on the road.
“We recognized that and made changes to get back in the winning column.”
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