Resilient Aggies overpowered by No. 8 Kentucky in second half, 81-69
Once again, Texas A&M just wouldn’t go away. But the Aggies also couldn’t get ahead.
Unable to rally from a double-digit deficit, the 11th-ranked Aggies (13-4, 2-2) suffered an 81-69 Southeastern Conference basketball loss to No. 8 Kentucky (14-3, 3-1) on Tuesday night in Lexington.
Two games ago, the Aggies stormed back from an 18-point hole to defeat Oklahoma. Last Saturday, they came back from 15 points down against Alabama to pull within three before falling in the final minute.
There wasn’t as much drama at Rupp Arena.
The Aggies were mediocre at the free-throw line. They also went ice cold in the second half when they missed all 12 attempts from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, Kentucky’s offense surged in the second half. The Wildcats shot 60.9 percent from the field and scored 14 points at the free-throw line in the second half to keep the Aggies at bay.
Playing without All-SEC guard Wade Taylor IV, who sat out a third-straight game, the Aggies could not manufacture enough offense to keep up with the high-scoring Wildcats.
Guard Zhuric Phelps led A&M with 21 points. Forward Pharrel Payne had 15. Manny Obaseki had 12.
But the rest of the Aggies combined to hit just six of their 26 shots from the field.
Guard Jaxson Robinson, who started his collegiate career at A&M, led Kentucky with 22 points. Forward Andrew Carr had 13 points, and guard Otega Oweh scored 11.
A&M coach Buzz Williams was duly impressed with the Kentucky offensive attack.
“(It’s) The third-best offense in the country,” Williams said. “It puts stress on you in transition. It puts stress on you immediately following transition.
“As soon as it goes (inside) to 22 (Amari Williams) or 10 (Brandon Garrison) and they began to run Coach’s offense, that’s a different type of stress. So there’s three versions of stress. They’re potent in each category.”
The Aggies got off to a good start, especially behind the arc.
Although not known as a strong 3-point shooting team, they hit 7-of-18 treys in the first half.
A&M led by as many as 18-11 midway through the first half when Obaseki capped a 12-0 run with a dunk.
The Aggies maintained a lead most of the half, primarily because Kentucky struggled mightily from 3-point range.
The Wildcats hit just one of their first 11 shots from beyond the arc.
But Kentucky hit four triples in the last five minutes. Robinson converted from the right wing with four seconds left to give the Wildcats a 35-32 lead at the break.
Then Kentucky outscored A&M 11-2 to start the second half. Nine of the Wildcats’ points in the run came on 3-pointers.
While Kentucky found its offensive flow, A&M began to flounder. The Aggies missed all 12 shots they attempted from 3-point range in the second half.
But the stubborn Aggies still managed to stay in contention. They pulled within 59-53 after an Andersson Garcia free throw with 6:58 remaining.
Alas, that’s as close as they could get.
Amari Williams answered with two free throws. Robinson followed with a dunk to give the Wildcats a 63-53 lead.
A&M never got closer than eight points from there.
