No. 15 Texas A&M (1-0) opened up the season in front of the second biggest crowd on opening day for Aggie Basketball in team program history with a dominating victory over the Texas A&M Commerce Lions (0-1).
Texas A&M Commerce came to play early, pressing the ball and giving the Aggies a little bit of trouble early. After jumping out to a 20-9 lead, right when it looked like the game would get out of hand, A&M went on an 11-1 run to pull within one point halfway through the first half.
Buzz Williams saw enough of the lethargic play and used time to refocus his team. Whatever he told his guys worked as they turned up the defensive pressure and closed out the first half on a blistering run out, scoring Commerce 21-7 to go into the locker room with a 41-27 lead.
Hayden Hefner and Tyrece Radford lead the team in points with 10 and 9, while Wade Taylor IV looks just as smooth as he did last year, contributing 8 points, four rebounds, and four assists with limited minutes.
The second half was where we saw the Aggies’ depth and talent start to wear down the Lions. In signature Buzz Williams fashion, a high-energy Aggie basketball team took the court in the second half and looked every bit like a top 15 team in the nation.
Lions Timeout | 2H | 8:38
Aggies 6️⃣7️⃣
Commerce 3️⃣9️⃣🔗 https://t.co/OqUHickJSm pic.twitter.com/lEkhJDJfvN
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) November 7, 2023
Texas A&M was able to keep the Lions scoreless for almost three minutes as they built a 20-point lead, letting Buzz stay dry, keeping his jacket on, and getting his bench players some PT. With Taylor and Radford getting some rest this game, Hefner and Senior transfer guard Eli Lawrence took over the scoring duties.
Hefner finished the night as the leading scorer with a career-high 19 points on an efficient 7-10 shooting with three 3-pointers. Lawrence scored 11 points off the bench, which was good enough for third-best behind Taylor and his 16-point effort. The 6’7″ sophomore Solomon Washington also had a strong game, hitting double-digits with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Overall, after the first game of the season against an under-matched opponent, the Aggies passed almost with flying colors. There was a moment in the first half where the team became extremely sluggish before coach Buzz called a timeout to get them back in line. The second was the poor free throw shooting for the team as a whole, considering how well they shot the ball last year from the charity stripe.
Those are minor issues you might see early in the season and should get cleaned up as they get closer to SEC play. This deep and talented group looks like a hungry team that’s not taking any opponent for granted this year, and we can wait to be a part of the journey to the tournament.
NOTE: Julius Marble was not seen suited up, and once tip-off came, he was not on the sideline. This wasn’t too much of a surprise as Buzz Williams said Marble would be away from the team due to a “university process” situation.
Texas A&M will be back in action on Nov. 10 when they travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State.
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