Texas A&M and Head coach Buzz Williams knew that after final Saturday’s shut loss to Kentucky, the highway forward would solely get harder because the Aggies would journey to Alabama to face the Fifteenth-ranked Auburn Tigers on Wednesday night time. Understanding full nicely of the home-court benefit the Tigers held inside Neville Enviornment, also referred to as “The Jungle”, Williams and the Aggies had been greater than able to take the problem head-on, handily defeating the Tigers 79-63 behind 30 factors from Tyrece Radford, ending this system’s 28-game dwelling successful streak, and enhancing to 6-1 within the SEC.
Tyrece “Boots” Radford made a press release on Wednesday night time, not solely scoring 52 complete factors in his final two video games for Texas A&M however proving to be the go-to scoring risk and chief on the level alongside Wade Taylor IV, offering the crew with the boldness that when in recreation adversity strikes, Radford has your again. Talking of Wade Taylor, the sophomore scoring chief had 15 factors on 6-9 capturing, and went 3-5 from deep, as Radford and Taylor offered a majority of the offense all through the sport.
At first of the primary half, the Aggies merely succumbed to the raucous environment that helped propel the Tigers to a fast 10-2 lead, briefly wanting just like the makings of a possible blowout for the house crew, till Wade Taylor IV hit again to again 3-point pictures to start out what can be a 58% first half capturing efficiency for the Aggies, together with 54.5% (6-11) from deep. Lead by the heroics of Tyrece Radford with 16 of his 30 factors, an ideal mixture of shutdown man-to-man protection, environment friendly rebounding (15), and good shot choice leading to a 21-5 run with 3:38 remaining, and a 13-2 run to complete out the half with a 45-30 halftime benefit.
The second half offered a much-needed spark for the Tigers, as Head coach Bruce Pearl switched to a zone protection on a majority of Texas A&M’s possessions, but the Tigers’ continued to battle on offense because the Aggies’ saved their composure defensively whereas matching each made Auburn basket with a make of their very own. Main 61-52, the Tigers’ tried to steal again momentum earlier than an exquisite fade-away bounce shot plus a foul from Tyrece Radford, basically killing any shot Auburn to mount a second-half comeback, because the Tigers would solely get inside 8 factors the remainder of the way in which.
At in regards to the 3:00 mark, the foul recreation ensued, because the Aggies repeatedly slipped their means by way of backcourt strain by the Tigers, making 9 free throws within the closing minutes, going 20-24 from the charity stripe, accounting for 25% of their factors on the night time. Statistically, the Aggies completed capturing 47% from the sector, and 36.8 from 3-point territory (7-19).
Auburn was led by ahead Johni Broome and guard Wendell Inexperienced Jr. who each scored 16 factors on the night time, because the crew shot 42.9% from the sector, and 18.8% from 3-point territory (3-16).
The underside line for Texas A&M is, this can be a gigantic victory from an NCAA Match perspective, not solely ending the longest dwelling successful streak since early Feb. twenty third, 2021 however incomes a much-needed Quad 1 win that may absolutely bump the Aggies up in future Match projections. Persevering with to deal with the fundaments of rebounding, elite inside protection, and good shot choice, this crew is as resilient to exterior strain and has presumably discovered their stroke from deep which bodes nicely down the road.
At 14-6 and 6-1 within the SEC, Texas A&M will return dwelling to face Vanderbilt inside Reed Enviornment on Saturday, Jan. twenty eighth, the place the sport will air on the SEC Community, with a beginning time of seven:30 PM CT.