No. 14 Texas A&M (6-2) battled but fell short of Virginia (6-1) on Wednesday night. A rested Virginia team was too much to handle as a shorthanded Aggie hit the floor with only a few days’ rest following a three-day tournament.
The Aggies started off slow for the second game in a row and had to rely heavily on defense early to stay in the game, falling behind 18-11 with about 10 minutes left in the first half. Luckily for Texas A&M, the Aggies got Henry Coleman back in this game and hit some big shots to keep the game from getting out of hand.
Like clockwork, the Buzz Williams defense turned it up and grabbed every rebound insight halfway through, resulting in a 10-0 run for a 23-20 lead. The lead would only last a few minutes as UVA would hit a big three off a late turnover to take a 27-26 lead.
Similar to the 1st half, the Aggies couldn’t buy a bucket and fell down by 11 points early in the second half. There was a point that Texas A&M had more turnovers than points behind UVA’s stifling defense.
With the Aggies shooting residing in the ice box, the Cavaliers maintained a double-digit lead to around the two-minute mark of the game. Whenever Texas A&M looked like they might make a run, Virginia would squash it immediately and never really put the Aggies back into the game. Texas A&M shot a sluggish 30.4% with 16 turnovers, not winning numbers, which ended in a 59-47 road loss.
Below are the Aggie critical contributors from the game:
Wade Taylor IV: 9 points / 4 assists / 4 rebounds / 5 turnovers
Henry Coleman: 16 points / 14 rebounds
Texas A&M will be back in action at 8:00 p.m. C.T. on Wednesday (Dec. 6) when they host DePaul at Reed Arena.
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