More than mere spectators, A&M bench making an impact down the stretch
Ask Texas A&M basketball coach Buzz Williams about the Aggies’ improving bench, and the first name mentioned is … Jerry Wainwright?
A long-time well-traveled assistant coach, Wainwright was hired by Williams as Marquette’s director of basketball operations in 2012. Wainwright pored over video of Marquette’s conference games the previous season and noticed something odd.
Williams never spoke to a player coming out of the game. His focus was on the players on the floor. But he found value in Wainwright’s observation.
“From that moment, I started taping the bench to see what’s happening,” Williams said. “We have a camera that videos our bench. That’s important to me relative to body language and who they are as teammates.”
That body language was demonstrated when bench players reacted to Quenton Jackson’s spectacular dunk on an alley-oop from Wendell Mitchell in a 77-69 win over Arkansas last Saturday by rolling on the floor.
Yet, their role on the court has made a bigger contribution to A&M’s recent surge of five victories in the last seven games.
That development is well-timed and not only for those five key conference wins down the stretch. Strong bench play figures to be needed for the Aggies to make a significant run in the Southeastern Conference postseason tournament in Nashville. The SEC Tournament with games on consecutive days can test a team’s depth.
A&M, which may need at least two wins to secure a place in the National Invitation Tournament, begins SEC tourney play on Thursday at 6 p.m. against Missouri.
The Aggies posted two victories over Missouri in SEC regular-season play, and the bench accounted for 19 points in a 66-64 victory in Columbia. Later in a 68-51 triumph at Reed Arena, the bench scored 18 points. Jackson poured in 16 of those.
Though he often is in the starting lineup, Jackson has been quite effective coming off the bench. He contributed 14 off the bench in last Saturday’s victory over Arkansas, including the highlight reel dunk that literally floored some of his teammates on A&M’s sideline. A few weeks earlier, he scored 11 of the 17 bench points in a 74-69 win over Georgia.
“Starting doesn’t really matter to me,” Jackson said. “Coming off the bench doesn’t really matter to me. I just feel like my job is when I get in the game to make as big an impact to help my team win as possible, whether that be coming off the bench, starting, playing the last two minutes, playing no minutes.
“The Auburn game I didn’t play. But if I can affect the game from the bench in any way possible I will.”
An injury forced Jackson to sit out a 78-75 upset of then-No. 17 Auburn. However, Jay Jay Chandler played a prominent part in the victory with 14 points off the bench.
Andre Gordon also hit three 3-pointers in the win over Auburn. Those weren’t bench points because Gordon was in the starting lineup in place of the injured Jackson.
Still, that demonstrated the Aggies’ improving depth.
“The evolution of the bench mirrors the evolution of what’s happened on the floor,” Williams said. “They (officials) are always getting on me about getting out of the (coach’s) box. Our whole bench is out of the box. It’s been unbelievable the spirit of those guys.”