Press conference videos courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.
Texas A&M might have gotten a second chance for NCAA Tournament consideration because the Aggies gave Alabama few second chances.
A spectacular second-half performance and a tremendous effort on the defensive boards propelled the Aggies (19-11, 8-9) to an 87-71 Southeastern Conference basketball upset of No. 25 Alabama (19-11, 9-8) on Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa.
The Aggies opened the second half with an 8-0 run and never slowed down. They shot 63.3 percent from the field in the second half en route to posting their most impressive victory of the season.
Quenton Jackson scored 28 points, Tyrece Radford had 22, and Henry Coleman III had 18 for the Aggies, who have won four of their last five games.
Alabama, which has beaten No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 3 Baylor, was led by guards Jaden Shackelford with 16 points, Jahvon Quinerly with 14 and Keon Ellis with 13.
Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
Jackson’s 28 points are his second-most this season.
“We played really well,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “And we played the way we had to play in order to have a chance to win against a team that is as talented as they are.”
That meant maximizing A&M’s shots and minimizing Alabama’s offensive rebounds.
The Aggies were able to take 58 field goal attempts — four more than Alabama — and converted 56.9 percent for the game.
Just as important — if not more so — the Aggies limited Alabama to six offensive rebounds and a mere two second-chance points. Alabama entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in offensive rebounding with an average of 13.5 per game.
“I talked to them today at shoot-around,” Williams said. “I said, ‘Here’s what it’s going to be: We have to get a shot every possession, and we need our go-gets to get extra offensive rebounds because we have to shoot more balls than they shoot.’
“And on the other end, when they shoot, they can only get one shot. So our guards have got to be in the mix to get a defensive rebound.”
Coleman, a 6-foot-8 forward, led A&M with 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double, Radford got eight, while Jackson and guard Hassan Diarra had three each.
“We’ve had a problem this season with allowing teams to get a lot of second-chance points,” Jackson said. “So we really over-emphasized not letting them get second-chance points.
“We tried to make it an effort to keep them to just one shot. They shoot a lot of fast shots. We tried to slow the ball down in transition. That way we could get a predictable rebound from the shots that they shoot.”
Despite playing a strong first half, the Aggies still trailed 40-37 at the break.
But they forced Alabama to commit four turnovers in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second half.
That paved the way for A&M to take a 45-40 lead on a Coleman dunk with 16:42 on the clock. The margin swelled to 69-56 on an Ethan Henderson dunk with seven minutes remaining.
“We played really well. And we played the way we had to play in order to have a chance to win against a team that is as talented as they are.”
- A&M head coach Buzz Williams
But Alabama responded with five unanswered points to pull within eight. Suddenly, A&M’s lead looked precarious.
In pivotal points of the games, coaches often use the cliche to step on the opponent’s throat.
The Aggies did. And they did it with their “Boots.”
Radford, nicknamed “Boots”, stole the ball from Alabama forward James Rojas and turned the turnover into a breakaway dunk.
He followed with consecutive 3-point goals to give the Aggies a 77-61 lead with 4:47 left.
“When they cut (the lead) down, I was just telling our team ‘Come on. We ain’t losing this one. We’ve got to keep it going. We’ve got to take care of the ball and rebound the ball.’”
Alabama never again got closer than 11 points.
The Aggies settled the issue a little more than a minute later.
Henderson missed a free throw — the only one of 15 they attempted — but Hayden Hefner got the offensive rebound. He passed to Diarra, who drilled a 3-pointer for an 81-66 lead with 3:01 remaining.
Just like that, the Aggies suddenly have NCAA Tournament aspirations again. Their hopes of getting into the field of 68 seemed unlikely a few weeks ago when they were mired in an eight-game losing streak.
But with their recent resurgence capped by a Quadrant I win over Alabama (a road win against a top-75 ranked opponent) should be enough for the Aggies to at least merit a second look.
