During Thursday afternoon’s press conference, Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams said it would be “miraculous” if his Aggies could beat Oregon State and head into the holiday break at .500.
Well, miracles happen.
“I stand by that,” said Williams following the game. “I think it is miraculous to be 5-5. There’s been a couple guarantee games that we could’ve for sure lost, and so to be able to finish this semester in the manner that we did, with the effort that we did - very thankful.”
A ferocious comeback by Texas A&M (5-5) over Oregon State (9-2) was needed to achieve said miracle. The Aggies rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the second half to win, 64-49, and snap Oregon State’s seven-game win streak. Josh Nebo scored 15 points and tallied eight blocks to lead the way for the Aggies. Savion Flagg and Quenton Jackson each added 13 points.
“I think (this win) was the best Christmas gift of 2019,” Williams said. “So thankful. Great way to end the semester.”
The win is undoubtedly the largest in the very young Buzz Williams era. Savion Flagg said it was nice to see their hard work begin to pay off.
Lia Musgrave, TexAgs
With their win over the Beavers, the Aggies are at .500 with just one game remaining before SEC play.
“This is definitely a huge win for us,” Nebo said. “Considering the past few games we’ve kind of struggled to win, kind of struggled to score, today was a great game to feel like a breakthrough for all the work we’ve put in during practice and see it come to light. That’s a really good feeling.”
The key moment came with 9:45 left in the contest. The Aggies were down three, and with the shot clock winding down, Jay Jay Chandler threw up a desperation three.
The shot went in and Chandler was fouled in the process. The Reed Arena crowd of 7,303 erupted.
Chandler would complete the rare four-point play to put the Aggies on top, 39-38. From that moment, A&M would not trail again. The Beavers managed one more tie at 41-41, but nothing more.
“It changed the game,” Nebo said.
Flagg echoed those sentiments.
“It was a big momentum shifter,” Flagg said. “No one thought he was going to hit it.”
Those pivotal four points were part of a 23-5 run in the 2nd half for the Aggies, which would prove too much for the Beavers to overcome.
While Texas A&M’s turnover struggles remain evident (17 on Saturday night), the Aggies’ rebounding abilities shined as they held a 46-32 edge on the boards over Oregon State.
“(Rebounding) was one of the stats that we looked up, and I feel like that should be one of the focal points for all of our games,” Flagg said. “I feel like if we out-rebound teams by 14 rebounds and not turn the ball over, we’ll put ourselves in position to win every game.”
Texas A&M managed 12 offensive rebounds and limited OSU to seven. The Aggies outscored the Beavers in second-chance points, 9-4.
“Lately, we’ve been missing a lot of shots,” Nebo said. “Our focus was just to get the ball on the rim and see if our guys that are crashing can try and get the rebound and give us another opportunity to shoot the ball again.”
“I thought it was the hardest we’ve played, and none of it was necessarily pretty to watch, but I thought the effort was outstanding.”
- Buzz Williams
Defensively, the Aggies put the clamps on the Beavers. A&M forced 13 turnovers in the game and held Oregon State to just 23.5 percent from the field in the second half. Josh Nebo’s eight blocks are a season-high for the senior.
“It felt really good, both to do that and just find a way to help the team win,” Nebo said. “I think maybe at my old school, Saint Francis, I might have had a game like that, but here, that was my first game having eight blocks.”
The contest could be described as being a tale of two halves, but despite being down eight at the intermission, the Aggies were never out of contention. A&M even held a 22-20 lead at one point following an old-fashioned three-point play from Josh Nebo. However, that lead would be short-lived as Tres Tinkle would hit a three just 15 seconds later.
But Texas A&M never folded and were able to win their second in a row.
“I thought it was the hardest we’ve played, and none of it was necessarily pretty to watch, but I thought the effort was outstanding,” Williams said.
The win certainly put Williams in a good mood, but perhaps the Aggies having the next few days to celebrate the holidays with their families had him in an even better mood.
“I’m so excited,” Williams said. “I’m so excited to do nothing. … I think it will be healthy for all of us, particularly emotionally, to have four days off.”
Texas A&M will be off until December 30 when Texas Southern makes the trip to Aggieland. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Reed Arena.
