Texas A&M (1-1) evened up its record to start the 2024-2025 basketball season after defeating newly named East Texas A&M 87-55 on Friday night, just four days after dropping the season opener vs. UCF.
While it’s too early in the season to know just how good this team is, it’s abundantly clear that from a depth and overall talent perspective, this is the best team on paper that head coach Buzz Williams had built after landing guard Zhuric Phelps and starting center Pharell Payne from the transfer portal.
Right out of the gate, Payne has stood out as an athletic big who can run the floor and make the most of his scoring opportunities. In his first two appearances, he recorded 23 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
Making his season debut on Friday, former SMU guard Zhuric Phelps led the game with 18 points, which looked like a slight upgrade athletically compared to former veteran guard Tyrece Radford.
Payne, Phelps, and former Nebraska guard CJ Wilcher are just the new additions, as the return of star guard Wade Taylor alongside guard Manny Obaseki fills out the deep backcourt.
At the same time, forwards Andersson Garcia, Henry Coleman, and Solomon Washington bring back a lot of defensive talent and experience in areas that were lacking depth last season.
While it’s true that this team will go as far as Wade Taylor takes them, the senior may lead the team in scoring so far, but it’s been his 13 assists in two games that have opened up the offense, allowing players like senior guard Hayden Hefner to find his stroke from deep.
In his sixth season, head coach Buzz Williams deserves credit for building the Aggies into an SEC contender compared to what he inherited. Still, as we saw in the loss to UCF, slow starts must be avoided against teams like Ohio State, Oregon, and Creighton in nonconference play.
There’s a reason Texas A&M was ranked 13th in the country entering the season. Prove it.
Texas A&M will continue its homestay over the next four games, set to host Lamar on Monday, Nov. 11.
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