No. 22 Texas A&M men’s basketball battled to a 72-67 win over Texas Tech at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon. The Aggies and Red Raiders met on the hardwood in the regular season for the first time since 2012 as part of the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge.
Here are a few takeaways from A&M’s gutsy victory, its first at Dickies Arena in four trips under coach Buzz Williams.
After the Aggies jumped to a hot start and grabbed their largest lead of the game at 26-15, the Red Raiders roared back and made things close the rest of the way. Texas Tech launched a 16-8 run to go into halftime trailing by just three and came out of the break with that same momentum.
Senior guard Elijah Hawkins’ three-pointer gave the Red Raiders their first lead at 38-36 before they stretched it to 5 at the 13:59 mark. Senior guard Zhuric Phelps put the Aggies back in front with a shot from long range, and they never trailed the rest of the way.
“To be in an atmosphere like this with the crowd [the way] it was, it was a one-of-a-kind type of experience,” senior guard Jace Carter said. “This is why you play college basketball. For us to be having fifth-year guys, fourth-year guys, the type of people we have, when it gets to crunch time, games like this, we love it. It’s why we’re at Texas A&M, it’s why we’re playing Texas Tech in December and we’re excited we got a win.”
A&M overcame a sellout crowd of 12,642 that leaned heavily in Texas Tech’s favor. Graduate guard Wade Taylor IV led the way with 19 points while Carter had 16 with with a trio of shots from beyond the arc. Phelps added 12 points and junior forward Solomon Washington brought down nine rebounds with a plus-minus of 20 in 31 minutes.
“It’s been a tough start to the season for me,” Carter said. “I’ve had to reflect on other stuff and kind of just dig deeper into my faith, honestly, and not shy away from the work, not shy away from the controversy. I had to be a grown man and receive the truth.”
The Aggies withstood a three-point barrage from the Red Raiders as super senior guard Chance McMillian and sophomore guard Kevin Overton combined for 40 points and nine shots from beyond the arc.
“Coach always preaches [to] just be us, stick to our foundation,” Phelps said. “It wasn’t that different from that last game that we played. Just being true to our defense and being true to us got us the win.”
The Aggies has their best game of the year when it came to limiting turnovers, an area that has hindered their success this season. A&M gave the ball away just nine times, their fewest of the season. It came on the heels of surrendering its most turnovers of the year with 18 in a win over Wake Forest.
Sunday was the Aggies’ first game of the season in which they limited their giveaways to 10 or less. If they can continue to showcase ball security and take care of the rock, it should open up more opportunities on the offensive end. On the other end of the floor, A&M forced 18 Texas Tech turnovers, the Red Raiders’ most of the season. They were held to their fewest points this year.
“I think [associate head] coach Devin [Johnson], who’s our defensive coordinator, continues to do really impressive things,” Williams said. “One of the things that I just mentioned is he studies, as do all of our coaches, but he studies what he thinks the plan should be. And then we install the plan and practice the plan, and then, in the preparation, he begins to teach our guys and show them pictures of what our adjustments to the plan are going to be.”
Sunday showed just how conducive trips to the charity stripe are to A&M’s scoring fortunes. It sank its second-fewest free throws of the season with 13 after attempting just 18 shots. Thanks to intentional fouls down the stretch, the Aggies avoided their season-low that came in their opening loss to UCF, when they sank eight of 14.
A&M entered the day attempting 26.4 free throws per game, good for 14th in the nation. It’s become a cornerstone of the Aggies’ scoring output, albeit dependent on their ability to draw fouls and, better yet, make the free throws. They hit just five of their first 10 attempts before nailing their next eight.
Find more Texas A&M coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Abilene, Texas — The Humane Society of North Texas has taken in approximately 40 dogs from the Caps situation.
However, officials say they were unable to take in four additional dogs due to a higher number of animals than originally anticipated.
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Those remaining dogs are now expected to be placed with foster families later this week.
Texas A&M Aggies (21-11, 11-8 SEC) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (27-5, 16-3 WCC)
Oklahoma City; Thursday, 7:35 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Gaels -3.5; over/under is 147.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 22 Saint Mary’s (CA) and Texas A&M square off in the NCAA Tournament first round.
The Gaels’ record in WCC play is 16-3, and their record is 11-2 against non-conference opponents. Saint Mary’s (CA) averages 10.2 turnovers per game and is 7-2 when it wins the turnover battle.
The Aggies’ record in SEC play is 11-8. Texas A&M ranks seventh in the SEC with 10.3 offensive rebounds per game led by Rashaun Agee averaging 2.7.
Saint Mary’s (CA) makes 46.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.0 percentage points higher than Texas A&M has allowed to its opponents (44.2%). Texas A&M scores 23.1 more points per game (87.7) than Saint Mary’s (CA) gives up to opponents (64.6).
TOP PERFORMERS: Paulius Murauskas is shooting 48.9% and averaging 18.8 points for the Gaels. Mikey Lewis is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Ruben Dominguez is shooting 40.4% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Aggies, while averaging 10.3 points. Agee is averaging 15.6 points and 9.2 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 8-2, averaging 77.3 points, 38.6 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.7 points per game.
Aggies: 4-6, averaging 78.3 points, 32.7 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 83.6 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Taylor Sheridan’s latest show will begin filming this week in Fort Worth.
It’s been a few weeks since word broke on Sheridan’s forthcoming Frisco King series for Paramount+. The previous iteration of the show was to be filmed and set in New Orleans, but it will now have a production home in North Texas.
Frisco King will star Samuel L. Jackson as Russell Lee Washington Jr., a hitman who crossed paths with Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King character Dwight Manfredi. Jackson appeared in the final two episodes of the show’s third season last year.
Filming will get underway in downtown Fort Worth at the Tarrant County Courthouse on Friday, March 20. Due to filming, several road closures will be in place around the area.
Here’s what to know.
Frisco King will film interior and exterior shots at the courthouse Friday, according to a city street use permit.
The permit includes several closures from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, and Friday:
Fort Worth police will be on-site to facilitate traffic and all local residents/businesses will have access to their properties at all times, per the permit. Once filming wraps, traffic operations will return to normal.
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Frisco King will be eight episodes and Sheridan is writing all of them himself.
In addition to Jackson, Frisco King will star Kai Caster, Asa Germann, Lilah Pate and Savanna Gann.
Sheridan, Jackson and Stallone will executive produce the show. Additional producers include Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Christina Alexandra Voros, Michael Friedman, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Keith Cox and 101 Studios CEO David Glasser.
No release date has been set for the series.
Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TNS)
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