The Aggies improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 season, but the Nittany Lions suffered their first loss of the season and fell to 4-1. Texas A&M will face FAU (Def Butler 91-86 in the first round) in the first semifinal game at 10 a.m. Friday on ESPN2.
With the Aggies holding a slight 4-point lead with just over 5 minutes remaining, the Aggies’ “Big 3” Wade Taylor IV, henry coleman iii and Tyrese Radford Combined, the Aggies scored 16 of their final 18 points, pulling away from a 12-point victory.
The trio scored in double figures, with Coleman leading the way with a game-high 24 points, Taylor IV with 23 points and Radford with 14 points. The SEC’s top-scoring guard tandem showed yeoman work on the boards with Taylor and Radford, along with Coleman. , had a game-high six rebounds.Senior Anderson Garcia Off the bench, he grabbed five rebounds, including four on the offensive end, and dished out a career-high four assists.
Buoyed by an impressive 56 points in the paint, the Aggies matched the game’s best shooters by shooting 59.6 percent from the field. buzz williams Texas A&M era (2019-20 onwards). The Aggies’ starting lineup combined for 25 of 39 shots for an impressive field goal percentage of 64.1. The Aggies committed just 10 turnovers against the nation’s No. 2 team in forcing turnovers (21.5 per game start). The Aggies had a 13-rebound advantage on 33-20 total boards, including a 21-13 bulge on the defensive end.
A clock malfunction caused a significant delay when the Aggies were trailing 24-22 in the first half, but the Aggies came out of the break hot, scoring 10 unanswered points over the next two minutes to open the scoring. At the 4 minute mark, they had a 30-24 advantage. Media timeout. Texas A&M continued to gain momentum and extended its lead to double digits with 53 seconds left in the first half, eventually leading 39-32 going into halftime.
Game notes:
A strong start: With an 89-77 victory over the Nittany Lions, Texas A&M has a perfect record of 5-0.this is the first time buzz williams An era in which the Aggies started undefeated through five games. The last time A&M got off to a 5-0 start was in 2017-18, when the Aggies went 7-0 and lost to Arizona.
Presence of paint: Texas A&M dominated around the rim, scoring 56 of its 89 points in the paint. The Maroon & White also scored 23 second-chance points to Penn State’s seven, outscoring the Nittany Lions 33-20. henry coleman iii He led the way and scored a team-high 24 points, followed by Wade Taylor IV He has scored in double figures in 17 consecutive games, including today’s season-high 23-point performance.
Run at every level: The Aggies were more efficient than the Nittany Lions at every level of the game, shooting 60 percent from the field to Penn State’s 53 percent to the Nittany Lions’ 36 percent and 32 percent from the three-point line to 76 percent. In the charity stripe, 68 percent were against it.
Aggie Depth: All 10 Aggies who saw the floor put points on the board, with 21 of those points coming off the bench.highlighted person Jace Carter The person who scored 6 points and had 4 boards was solomon washington He recorded 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. The A&M bench also had six of Texas A&M’s 12 assists and 13 rebounds.
Post-match comments:
wireless: head coach buzz williams Houston Astros TV play-by-play announcer Todd Karras (replacing Andrew Monaco) and radio crew John Thornton talk about the 89-77 victory over Penn State in the opening game of the ESPN Event Invitational. You can watch the video here.