Texas A&M men's basketball downs Demons to open season, 72-44

There will be stronger opponents with bigger posts and even better guards.

But if Texas A&M’s 72-44, season-opening victory over Northwestern State on Friday night is any indication of what awaits this basketball season, expect the Aggies to be intimidating inside.

And exasperating outside.

The Aggies outscored the over-matched Demons 42-8 in the paint, out-rebounded them 46-19 and notched nine blocked shots – five by 6-9 freshman Robert Williams.

But A&M committed 12 turnovers – most of them coming out on the perimeter – and converted just 5 of 24 attempts from 3-point range.

That was all that prevented the blowout from being a bloodletting.

Sophomore forward Tyler Davis led the way for the Aggies with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot in just 21 minutes of play.

Tonny Trocha-Morelos had 11 points, while sophomores Admon Gilder contributed eight and D.J. Hogg seven.

Newcomers J.C. Hampton, freshman guard Caleb Smith and Williams all had six points.

Zeek Woodley, a 6-2 senior guard with a 19.4-point career average, was Northwestern State’s only player in double-figures with 10.

“We knew we had the size advantage. We were just paying to our strengths,” Davis said. “I expect great things from my teammates. Our job is to win the paint every night, dominate the boards and make the other team pay when they come inside.”

Northwestern State certainly did. The Demons did not score in the paint in the first half.

However, they compensated with four three-point goals to stay within twelve at halftime, 33-21.

But the Aggies went on a 25-3 run in an eight-minute span to take 60-28 lead after Davis converted a three-point play with 10:19 remaining.

Williams also brought the Reed Arena crowd of 7,539 to its feet with an spectacular alley-oop dunk on a pass from Gilder.

“I wish I could jump like him,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said of Williams. “He’s going to get better every day. He’s a weapon for us defensively. We got almost double-figures on blocks. He’ll help our defense and create some easy baskets in transition.”

Kennedy said the Aggies guards got off to a slow start because Northwestern’s strategy to press and then fall back into a zone caused some confusion.

But they adjusted and were much more effective in the second half when A&M committed only three of its dozen turnovers.

“It was a good first game for us because Northwestern (State) did some things we weren't ready for in the first half,” Kennedy said. “Our guys kind of struggled trying to figure out what they were in and were hesitant. I think our guards were hesitant, but in the second half we adjusted. We had good poise. JC Hampton was much better.

“You don’t see us too upset on the bench when we have first year mistakes. We’re going to have those moments. The key is we didn’t have them both halves. Our guards did a great job attacking instead of playing back on our heels.”

The Aggies will look to continue making progress when they face American University on Monday night, though there figure to be growing pains as they try to replace the production of departed seniors Alex Caruso, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Anthony Collins.

But they’re eager to show they can be a strong team, too.

“You have an opportunity to show people,” Trocha-Morelos said. “They’ve talked about the seniors are not there and what they did. We know we’re capable of doing the same things and probably better. We just have to work hard and show people we’re here to play basketball.”