Erratic offense has been an issue for Texas A&M throughout the basketball season, but the Aggies may have bottomed out in a 74-54 Southeastern Conference loss at South Carolina on Saturday.
Earlier this week Coach Buzz Williams said the Aggies had gotten “punked” three weeks ago in an 81-67 loss to the Gamecocks at Reed Arena.
This time they were dominated worse even though Gamecocks starting forward Justin Minaya sat out with an injury.
A&M squandered an early 9-0 lead and were out of contention by halftime. The Aggies finished with more turnovers (20) than field goals (15). South Carolina scored 21 points off A&M miscues The Aggies were also out-rebounded, 41-38, and were outscored in the paint 29-14.
“I think their game plan against us was the same (as the first game) … just bully us and we stop,” Williams said. “Ten (Minaya) normally leads that charge. But they’ve got enough guys that we weren’t a problem.
“We started good. We’re not known for good starts. (It was) arguably one of our best starts this season. I’m sure at the first timeout coach (Frank Martin) told them they weren’t playing hard and so they started playing real hard and started bullying us.”
Quenton Jackson scored 16 points off the bench to lead A&M (11-11, 5-5). Wendell Mitchell also added 12 points.
However, A&M’s other four starters — Savion Flagg, Josh Nebo, Emanuel Miller and Andre Gordon — combined for nine points while converting 3 of 20 shots.
Nebo, who entered the game as A&M’s leading scorer, managed just two field goal attempts and finished with three points.
Meanwhile, South Carolina (14-9, 6-4) was boosted by freshman guard Jermaine Couisnard with 19 points and sophomore guard A.J. Lawson with 18.
In the early going the Aggies looked like they might have a strong offensive showing. Boosted by a Mitchell 3-pointer and a three-point play by Gordon, the Aggies jumped out to a 9-0 lead. However, the game’s complexion soon turned dramatically.
A&M held an 18-17 edge after Mitchell hit a 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the half, but plagued by turnovers and poor shooting, the Aggies were outscored 24-5 over the remainder of the half.
South Carolina scored 14 points off 11 A&M turnovers and ended the half on a 9-0 run to take a 41-23 lead at the break.
The Gamecocks didn’t slow down. Lawson hit a pair of 3-pointers to key an 8-1 run to open the second half and settle the issue for all practical purposes.
From there, South Carolina’s lead swelled to as much as 31 points.
