Texas A&M (9-4) hosted the Prairie View A&M Panthers (5-8) on Saturday night at Reed Arena and came out with a decisive win to end non-conference play on a two-game winning streak, while earning three Quad 1 victories before the SEC slate begins.
This game was never close as Texas A&M opened the game on a 13-0 and led by double digits essentially the entire contest. The Aggies didn’t go too deep into their bench. As a result, they had four starters reach double digits, with Henry Coleman and Andersson Garcia recording double-doubles. For Coleman, his 20 points and 13 rebounds gave him his fifth double-double on the season, and Garcia’s 11 points and 12 rebounds was a career milestone as his first collegiate double-double.
If there is one thing the Aggies need to improve on as they move into SEC play, it’s their three-point shooting. They were an abysmal 3-24 from beyond the arc and are now at a season average of .274, while their opponents are at .350. Going forward, something needs to happen on the defensive end, or they need to put up a thousand extra shots during the break to close that gap.
However, to close out on a positive note, the Maroon & White did not forget how to rebound as they came into the game as the nation’s leader in offensive rebounds and solidified that spot again tonight, snatching a season-high 29 offensive boards in route to their 79-54 victory.
NOTE: Tyrece Radford returned to the lineup and missing multiple games
business was stood on đź‘Ť pic.twitter.com/qtt6P0th3e
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) December 31, 2023
Below are the Aggie critical contributors from the game:
Henry Coleman:Â 20 points / 13 rebounds
Andersson Garcia:Â 11 points / 12 rebounds
Tyrece Radford:Â 11 points / 7 rebounds
Texas A&M will get a break before SEC play on January 6th, where they will host LSU inside Reed Arena at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on the SEC Network.
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