Blair becomes winningest coach in A&M history after No. 15 Aggies rout Tigers, 88-43
No. 15 Texas A&M hosted Texas Southern at Reed Arena on Thursday night and improved to 9-1 on the season after taking down the Tigers in dominating fashion, 88-43. Tonight’s win made history, as head coach Gary Blair secured his 439th win and is now the winningest coach in Texas A&M history.
“It’s just a number, I’m proud I did it here at Texas A&M, I got it done in the first third of my 19th year, and I’m proud of that tree, the tree has helped me get to where I’m at that family tree, but 439 is a weird number but I’m going to love and accept it and I just thank the crowd that was there to help us out,” said head coach Gary Blair.
The Aggies were a perfect 5/5 from beyond the arc to start the game, also shooting 52.9% from the field in the first quarter. The defense stood strong as well, holding the Tigers to 30% from the field. A&M finished the first quarter with a 16-point cushion, leading the Tigers 27-11 behind 10 points from Kayla Wells.
“I knew this game was important for us to bounce back,” said Wells. I was feeling good in shoot-around and in practice and I know I have to get up a certain amount of shots in order to make an impact for my team.”
The Aggies continued their hot streak into the second quarter, as Qadashah Hoppie and Kayla Wells went 7-8 combined from three heading into the half. Hoppie had 12 points and Wells led the team with 17 points at the break.
“We took shots in the flow of our offense which changes a lot of things and we were comfortable out there,” said Wells.
The Aggies kept the pace coming out of halftime. A&M shot 44% from the field in the third quarter with Wells adding on 8 points of her own. Defensively, McKinzie Green had two quick steals that helped put the Aggies up over 30 points.
By the time the fourth quarter started, the Aggies were up 69-32 and kept the pace throughout the rest of the game. Four Aggies finished in double digits. Wells led the team with 25 points, Hoppie finished with 14, Jordan Nixon added 12 and Aaliyah Patty had 10. This was a huge game defensively for the Aggies as they forced 25 turnovers and scored 40 points off of the Tigers' miscues.
“I feel like this was a statement game for us on the defensive end, we didn’t play our best defensive game against Texas and we made it a priority to play a lot better defense and we want to do that game after game,” said guard McKinzie Green.
The Aggies return to the court on Sunday as they travel to Fort Worth to take on TCU at 1:00 PM.