It was a bitterly cold day outside, but Texas A&M basketball stayed red hot in SEC play under Bucky McMillan, improving to 6-1 in conference thanks to a 92-69 demolishing of the *rival Gamecocks on Saturday
at Reed Arena.
What started as a back-and-forth affair got blown open in the latter portion of the first half thanks to a blistering shooting pace from long range from the Aggies. They made 12 three-pointers in the first half, and would finish the game with 17, shooting 44% from beyond the arc. That will win you a ton of basketball games. Add in a 43-30 rebounding edge (something A&M at times struggles with) and you have the recipe for a blowout. The Aggies took a 21-point lead at the half that at one point ballooned to 32, before settling in at the final 23-point margin.
A&M was paced by leading scorer Zach Clemence, who poured in 21 points off the bench thanks in large part to shooting SEVEN-OF-EIGHT FROM THREE-POINT RANGE to go along with three blocks. The Ags also got 17 from Rylen Griffin, and 11 each from both Pop Isaacs and Rashaun Agee. While A&M bombing it from distance meant they didn’t shoot a ton of free throws, making 90% of them (9-10) warms the soul of this fanbase full of Buzz Williams era survivors.
So that means that A&M. somewhat inexplicably, remains at least tied for first place in the SEC standings nearly halfway through the conference slate. Certainly the schedule gets tougher in the coming weeks, but there weren’t many people who had A&M coming strong out of the gate like this, and even if they drop a few of their upcoming games, they’re now firmly in NCAA Tournament contention, with Joe Lunardi currently slotting the Aggies as a 9 seed.
The Ags get a few days of rest, with no mid-week game this week, before resuming conference play with a road trip to Georgia on Jan. 31. That game will tip at noon and air on SEC Network.
