Billy Kennedy
Texas A&M Players
Green Bay Postgame
Texas A&M Basketball
On upset-filled day, Aggies overpower Green Bay in first round, 92-65
OKLAHOMA CITY – Some skeptics won’t be impressed.
They will dismiss Texas A&M’s 92-65 basketball victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday night as a glorified NCAA Tournament bye against a marginal opponent from an obscure conference.
Those skeptics, however, are not likely to be fans of Baylor, West Virginia, Purdue, Cal or Michigan State — upset victims all.
In perhaps the maddest March ever, the old “survive and advance’’ cliché has never been more pertinent.
Yale, Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas-Little Rock, Hawaii and Middle Tennessee State posted those first round upsets over opponents seeded fifth or higher.
The third-seeded Aggies (27-8) were determined to prevent 14-seed Green Bay (23-13), winner of the Horizon League Tournament, to join that list.
A&M was beyond the Horizon. As a result, the Aggies take aim at the Texas-Northern Iowa winner on Sunday for a chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
“We know how hard it is to win games in this tournament when you see West Virginia getting beat by Stephen F. Austin,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “This tournament is about matchups and anybody can beat anybody on a given night if the matchup’s the right way.”
The Aggies withstood a slow start in which they committed nine turnovers in eight minutes and fell behind 22-14. But they regained their composure and dominated play afterward.
TexAgs
The Aggies out-talented, out-depthed and flat-out outplayed Green Bay after the game's first 10 minutes in an easy win.
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When the Aggies settled down, they settled the issue.
“We know you’ve got to play hard for 40 minutes,” said senior guard Danuel House. “So we just talked to each other and said, 'Give it your all for one another for 40 minutes,' and I think that’s what we did.”
Did they ever.
The Aggies knew they’d be tested by Green Bay’s intense defense known as RP40 (Relentless Pressure, 40 minutes).
They knew the Phoenix led the nation in total steals and was among the nation’s highest scoring teams, averaging 85 points per game.
They knew they’d need to capitalize on their size advantage inside.
The Aggies accomplished all those goals.
A&M routinely pounded the basketball inside to register 40 points in the paint. The Aggies outrebounded Green Bay by a whopping 45-25. They did commit 20 turnovers, but those were converted into just 16 points. A&M scored 22 points off Green Bay’s turnovers.
“You look at the stats — they had 46 points in the paint. I mean, there is almost no way we can win with those numbers,” said Green Bay senior forward Jordan Fouse, who scored nine points. “They’re a big team and they knew that we were undersized. They just pounded the ball inside and we had a tough time guarding them.”
The Phoenix had no answer for House, who followed up his career-high 32-point outburst in last week’s SEC Tournament final against Kentucky with 20 points on Friday.
Tonny Trocha-Morelos came off the bench to score 15. Freshman center Tyler Davis had 12, while Jalen Jones and Admon Gilder both had 11.
Senior walk-on Kyle Dobbins, who drew an enormous ovation from the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd when he entered the game with one minute remaining, scored two points. That’s significant because it’s just one point less than Green Bay guard Carrington Love managed.
Love entered the contest averaging 17.7 points.
Still, Green Bay gave the A&M contingent in the crowd some uneasy early moments by forcing nine turnovers and hitting eight of 15 field goal attempts in the first eight minutes on the way to taking a 22-14 lead.
However, A&M calmed down after the second media timeout and committed just three more turnovers the rest of the half.
Meanwhile, A&M was taking control under the basket.
“The emotion was running, especially mine,” said Davis. “But I have Danuel and Tonny and a lot of the older guys just telling me to stay poised and keep my head. We just had to slow the game down a little bit and we did a great job of that.”
House scored a three-point play and Alex Caruso set up Trocha-Morelos for a dunk that gave A&M a 30-28 edge with 5:32 to play.
Green Bay’s Kerem Kanter answered with a three-pointer, but the Aggies went on an 11-2 run to take a 41-33 halftime lead.
The Aggies did not slow down. They shot 58.1 percent in the second half and built the lead to 27 points, 85-58, on a pair of Gilder free throws with 2:35 remaining.
“We were fortunate we played a Wisconsin-Green bay team that liked to get up and down the floor a little bit,” Kennedy said. “We were able to explore some opportunities, especially in the second half, to break the game open.”
Then he added: “You’ve got to be good every day, every night, because one slip and you’re out of here fast.”
Baylor, Michigan State, West Virginia and the others know that all too well.
They will dismiss Texas A&M’s 92-65 basketball victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday night as a glorified NCAA Tournament bye against a marginal opponent from an obscure conference.
Those skeptics, however, are not likely to be fans of Baylor, West Virginia, Purdue, Cal or Michigan State — upset victims all.
In perhaps the maddest March ever, the old “survive and advance’’ cliché has never been more pertinent.
Yale, Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas-Little Rock, Hawaii and Middle Tennessee State posted those first round upsets over opponents seeded fifth or higher.
The third-seeded Aggies (27-8) were determined to prevent 14-seed Green Bay (23-13), winner of the Horizon League Tournament, to join that list.
A&M was beyond the Horizon. As a result, the Aggies take aim at the Texas-Northern Iowa winner on Sunday for a chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
“We know how hard it is to win games in this tournament when you see West Virginia getting beat by Stephen F. Austin,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “This tournament is about matchups and anybody can beat anybody on a given night if the matchup’s the right way.”
The Aggies withstood a slow start in which they committed nine turnovers in eight minutes and fell behind 22-14. But they regained their composure and dominated play afterward.
TexAgs
The Aggies out-talented, out-depthed and flat-out outplayed Green Bay after the game's first 10 minutes in an easy win.
{"Module":"photo","Alignment":"left","Size":"large","Caption":"The Aggies out-talented, out-depthed and flat-out outplayed Green Bay after the game\u0027s first 10 minutes in an easy win.","MediaItemID":68738}
“We know you’ve got to play hard for 40 minutes,” said senior guard Danuel House. “So we just talked to each other and said, 'Give it your all for one another for 40 minutes,' and I think that’s what we did.”
Did they ever.
The Aggies knew they’d be tested by Green Bay’s intense defense known as RP40 (Relentless Pressure, 40 minutes).
They knew the Phoenix led the nation in total steals and was among the nation’s highest scoring teams, averaging 85 points per game.
They knew they’d need to capitalize on their size advantage inside.
The Aggies accomplished all those goals.
A&M routinely pounded the basketball inside to register 40 points in the paint. The Aggies outrebounded Green Bay by a whopping 45-25. They did commit 20 turnovers, but those were converted into just 16 points. A&M scored 22 points off Green Bay’s turnovers.
“You look at the stats — they had 46 points in the paint. I mean, there is almost no way we can win with those numbers,” said Green Bay senior forward Jordan Fouse, who scored nine points. “They’re a big team and they knew that we were undersized. They just pounded the ball inside and we had a tough time guarding them.”
The Phoenix had no answer for House, who followed up his career-high 32-point outburst in last week’s SEC Tournament final against Kentucky with 20 points on Friday.
Tonny Trocha-Morelos came off the bench to score 15. Freshman center Tyler Davis had 12, while Jalen Jones and Admon Gilder both had 11.
Senior walk-on Kyle Dobbins, who drew an enormous ovation from the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd when he entered the game with one minute remaining, scored two points. That’s significant because it’s just one point less than Green Bay guard Carrington Love managed.
Love entered the contest averaging 17.7 points.
Still, Green Bay gave the A&M contingent in the crowd some uneasy early moments by forcing nine turnovers and hitting eight of 15 field goal attempts in the first eight minutes on the way to taking a 22-14 lead.
However, A&M calmed down after the second media timeout and committed just three more turnovers the rest of the half.
We were fortunate we played a Wisconsin-Green bay team that liked to get up and down the floor a little bit. We were able to explore some opportunities, especially in the second half, to break the game open.
{"Module":"quote","Alignment":"right","Quote":"We were fortunate we played a Wisconsin-Green bay team that liked to get up and down the floor a little bit. We were able to explore some opportunities, especially in the second half, to break the game open.","Author":"Billy Kennedy"}
Consequently, Green Bay hit just five of 19 shots (26.3 percent) over the last nine minutes.Meanwhile, A&M was taking control under the basket.
“The emotion was running, especially mine,” said Davis. “But I have Danuel and Tonny and a lot of the older guys just telling me to stay poised and keep my head. We just had to slow the game down a little bit and we did a great job of that.”
House scored a three-point play and Alex Caruso set up Trocha-Morelos for a dunk that gave A&M a 30-28 edge with 5:32 to play.
Green Bay’s Kerem Kanter answered with a three-pointer, but the Aggies went on an 11-2 run to take a 41-33 halftime lead.
The Aggies did not slow down. They shot 58.1 percent in the second half and built the lead to 27 points, 85-58, on a pair of Gilder free throws with 2:35 remaining.
“We were fortunate we played a Wisconsin-Green bay team that liked to get up and down the floor a little bit,” Kennedy said. “We were able to explore some opportunities, especially in the second half, to break the game open.”
Then he added: “You’ve got to be good every day, every night, because one slip and you’re out of here fast.”
Baylor, Michigan State, West Virginia and the others know that all too well.
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