No. 24 Texas A&M outclassed by Colorado in Myrtle Beach, 103-75

The Texas A&M basketball team continued its defensive struggles on Friday with a 103-75 defeat against the Colorado Buffaloes in the Myrtle Beach Invitational.

The Buffs made 16 3-point field goals and converted nearly 58 percent of all shots attempted. The 103-point total is the most scored by any team in the history of the tournament.

“We did not have enough competitive character today from start to finish,” A&M head coach Buzz Williams said. “What we want to be about and what we need our identity to be about in what we practice before coming here has not been evident in this tournament.”

The Aggies held a 14-12 lead at the 13:43 mark of the first half, but the Buffaloes went on a 3-point spree the rest of the first half, finishing on a 42-19 run and going to the locker room with a commanding 54-33 lead. Texas A&M got no closer than down 21 in the second half and did not threaten Colorado from that point forward.

“I don’t have the answer. I know I’m responsible to figure out that answer and will be held accountable,” said Williams. “We haven’t played nearly as hard as we need to play, and the tenets of what our defense is built on, we haven’t executed at any level since we’ve been here.”

Hayden Hefner led the Aggies with 13 points, while Julius Marble II and freshman Solomon Washington chipped in 12 apiece.

However, it was far too little to stay with Colorado.

The veteran starting trio of Tyrece Radford, Henry Coleman III and Wade Taylor IV combined for just 12 points on 2-of-15 shooting from the field.

“We need our defense to help our offense. I think we’ve been trying to do it in an inverse way. At this level, that won’t work,” said Williams. “We’ve gotten away from what we want to be about, and we’ll utilize tomorrow to see if we can find some sense of getting back to that. I did not expect our response yesterday to be what it was today. I don’t think we played well on either end.”

Despite the most productive outing of his young career, Washington fell hard to the floor midway through the second half, was assisted to the locker room and did not return to the game. Williams elaborated that Washington fell on his ribs but did not know his status for the remainder of the tournament.

Texas A&M is off on Saturday and will play in the seventh-place game at 3:30 p.m. CT on Sunday against the loser of Boise State-Loyola Chicago, which will be played later on Friday.