The new-look Texas A&M basketball was suspiciously similar to the old-look Aggies.
A&M opened the 2022-23 season in the same dominating fashion as they displayed in a run to the NIT final.
Just as in NIT victories over Oregon, Wake Forest and Washington State, the Aggies took command early and never let up en route to a lopsided 87-54 victory over Louisiana-Monroe at Reed Arena on Monday night.
Of course, there were significant differences, too.
The Aggies, which sometimes struggled from the perimeter last season, were deadly from 3-point range. The Aggies hit a dozen 3-pointers while shooting 46.2 percent from behind the arc.
The Aggies did not hit 12 3-pointers in any game last season.
“I hope that is an attribute to the team,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “I think our staff did a good job in recognizing that we do need to be able to shoot the ball better.
“Some of the stuff that we’re doing in early offense creates us playing at the pace in the half court that we want to play with.
“That creates more awareness of, ‘It’s my turn to shoot this ball.’ I think when you know it’s your turn to shoot, you feel more confident shooting it.”
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV contributed five of the Aggies’ treys on the way to a game-high 18 points.
Henry Coleman added 14, while Hayden Hefner had 12 — on four triples — and newcomer Dexter Dennis netted 11. Nine of Dennis’ points came on a trio of threes.
Manny Obaseki rounded out a quintet of Aggies in double figures with 10 points — the last four of which came on acrobatic dunks in the final five minutes.
A&M was in complete control less than 10 minutes into the first half.
Taylor drilled a trey from the corner, newcomer Julius Marble scored on a dunk, and Andre Gordon hit a three from the right wing in an 8-0 run that gave A&M a 21-12 lead with 10:32 showing.
The margin swelled to 19 points, 40-21, with 3:33 left in the half as Khalen “KK” Robinson and Dennis hit treys in a 9-0 run.
The Aggies held a 45-31 lead at halftime. They opened the second half with a 14-2 run. Their lead was stretched to 38 points, 82-44, on an Obaseki dunk with 4:56 to play.
Seemingly every goal Williams set was reached. At least, it seemed that way.
As is often the case with coaches, Williams wasn’t completely satisfied, especially with the first-half showing.
“I thought we played really well in many respects,” Williams said. “The thing I was disappointed in at halftime is we fouled 13 times for 14 points. Six of those points came from fouling the 3-point shooter in the act of shooting. That’s a sin.
“And we had nine turnovers. That’s too high, but what made that worse was six of those nine turnovers were live-ball that turned into six points in transition.”
But Williams had to be pleased with the overall performance.
On the defensive end, the Aggies limited ULM to 29.6 percent shooting and allowed the Warhawks just a single 3-pointer in 13 attempts. The Ags held a 47-36 edge in rebounds and forced 16 turnovers, which were parlayed into 25 points.
Offensively, A&M shot 50.8 percent from the field (32 of 63) and dealt out 21 assists.
“We’re playing with a lot more purpose on our mind,” Hefner said. “There’s no reason for us to sit around and dribble. If you’re going to have the ball make something happen with it.”
