Texas A&M (9-5, 0-1) hosted the LSU Tigers (9-5, 1-0) on Saturday night at Reed Arena and had their worst shooting output of the season, falling to the Tigers in the conference opener.
The game started off with both teams battling for the record of three-point shots taken to start a game. It was a bit of a mixed bag for both teams from that front, but Wade Taylor had his floater going early and keeping the game close. The Aggies’ defense was able to hold LSU scoreless for over four minutes, allowing them to take a 22-21 lead.
However, the last four minutes were sloppy basketball by both teams, with neither team wanting to take the game over. Together, they went a combined 6-29 from the three-point line and both shot under 34% from the field in general. Due to a foul on Hayden Hefner as time expired, the Aggies took an uninspiring 32-20 lead into halftime. Taylor IV led all Aggies, scoring 11 on the night.
up at the half pic.twitter.com/aYa2HLSzeI
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 7, 2024
After being outscored early in the second half, 8-0, A&M was able to put together a few buckets, cutting the lead down to 40-37 by the first timeout. Points were a little hard to come by and the team was relatively equal on the boards with Wade Taylor IV, sensing that offense was lacking, started to take matters into his own hands, scoring nine straight points for the Aggies.
Unfortunately for Buzz Williams, no other Aggie could buy a bucket halfway through the second half as LSU went on a 7-0 run to go back up 53-44. As the saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.” A&M continued to miss shots and fell behind 61-49 with five minutes left in the game.
LSU played a much cleaner second half than Texas A&M and out-rebounded them on the offensive board for multiple second-chance points. Buzz Williams has seen his team have too many games like this early in the season, where Taylor IV is the only Aggie who can create any offense. A&M ended the night shooting 25%, dropping their SEC opener and snapping their 12-game home SEC winning streak after a 68-53 loss to the Tigers.
Below are the Aggie critical contributors from the game:
Wade Taylor IV: 23 points / 6 rebounds / 6 steals
Tyrece Radford: 11 points / 6 rebounds
NOTE: Solomon Washington & Bryce Lindsay did not suit up for the game
Texas A&M will return on the road on January 9 to take on the Auburn Tigers at 8:00 PM CST in Neville Arena.
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