No. 13 Texas A&M (1-1) made the most of its bounce-back opportunity against newly named East Texas A&M on Friday night, blowing out the visitors 87-55 behind a complete team performance, including senior guard Zhuric Phelps’ debut 18-point outing.
Finally, looking like the No. 13-ranked team in the country, the Aggies knew that finishing every game is the goal moving forward, something that plagued head coach Buzz Williams‘ team in the season-opening loss to UCF after being held scoreless with three minutes left in the game.
After losing veteran guard Tyrece Radford this offseason, William’s perfectly utilized the transfer portal, landing starting center Pharrel Payne, guard CJ Wilcher, and, of course, Zhuric Phelps, whose impressive career at SMU was more than enough to help the Aggie offense for at least one season.
Never trailing, Texas A&M’s defense smothered the cross-town Aggies, producing six blocks and eleven steals and forcing 18 turnovers. It’s still very early, but this team looks much improved in several areas ahead of a challenging nonconference schedule.
Here are the best photos from the win, including several shots of Buzz William’s entertaining facial expressions!