Billy Kennedy
Davis and Collins
CC HC Willis Wilson
Texas A&M Basketball
Aggies grind out win over Islanders behind Tyler Davis' big night, 86-69
The marquee outside announced Monday night’s event at Reed Arena was a Texas A&M basketball game against A&M-Corpus Christi.
It very well could have been the Tyler Davis low-post scoring clinic.
A&M’s 6-10, 270-pound sophomore center routinely sealed off Corpus Christi’s smaller defenders and turned entry passes into easy layups en route to a career-high 25 points.
Davis converted nine of 12 field goals and hit seven of nine free throws to account for most of the Aggies’ 40 points in the paint.
“My teammates just found me in the right spots,” Davis said. “My job is to post hard and create angles for the guards and get the ball and score.
“We’re supposed to play well inside against smaller teams. It’s our strength and their weakness. We decided to attack that … just get inside the paint. That was the key to the game.”
Corpus Christi coach Willis Wilson agreed.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Aggie center Tyler Davis scored a career-high 25 points against the Islanders on Monday.
“I
thought they did a nice job when things got tight," Wilson said.
“Every time we got a chance to put pressure on them, they leaned on what they do – go inside to the paint. Obviously, Tyler Davis’ play speaks for itself. We knew that would be a handful for us all night long.”
Though Davis was putting on a low-post scoring clinic for the announced crowd of 6,275, he got plenty of help.
Guard Admon Gilder, who had a pair of three-pointers in a pivotal first half run, scored 17 for the Aggies (5-2), who were back in action for the first time since a 74-67 loss to UCLA eight days ago.
Tonny Trocha-Morelos added 13, and freshman Robert Williams had eight – three baskets coming on spectacular dunks off alley-oop passes.
D.J. Hogg only managed seven points but compensated with nine assists and three blocked shots.
A&M-Corpus Christi (5-2) was led by guard Cole Martinez with 14 points and 6-8 senior forward Rashawn Thomas, who had 12 before fouling out.
The visiting Islanders, who entered the game 17th in the nation in scoring, were held to their lowest offensive output of the season.
Yet, A&M coach Billy Kennedy wasn’t satisfied with the Aggies' defensive effort, nor the fact that the Aggies were out rebounded, 39-31. That included 19 offensive boards for Corpus Christi.
“It’s always good to get the win, but we didn’t defend like wanted to,” Kennedy said. “Maybe not playing for seven, eight days … I don’t know. Eight days. I just know we’ve got to get better defensively. When we were not making shots, we weren’t playing with a sense of urgency on defense.”
Most of that would’ve been in the first half when the Aggies appeared to show the affects of going a week without playing.
But when they finally shook off the rust, they did so in a big way.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M guard Admon Gilder was instrumental in the Aggies' 15-2 run late in the first half.
That began with 6:32
remaining in the first half when Eric Vila hit two free throws to start
a 15-2 run that put the Aggies in command with a 41-27 lead late in the
first half.
Gilder hit a pair of three-pointers from the left corner, and Trocha-Morelos scored a breakaway dunk to highlight the run, which gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the half.
Trocha-Morelos and Davis each had 11 points, and Gilder had eight in the half.
The Aggies eventually took a 45-33 lead at intermission. And although they were always in control in the second half, they struggled to put the Islanders away.
A&M maintained an 11-point lead with two minutes remaining. The Aggies closed with consecutive three-pointers by Gilder and Chris Collins to account for the final 17-point margin.
Kennedy acknowledged his team might not have been as focused and usual. He also said that was not acceptable.
“Great teams and good teams look good every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing UCLA in Anaheim or at home when it’s raining outside and you don’t have a packed house,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got to develop habits where we're playing hard every day in areas where we need to get better.
“Somebody has to step up. We watched (former star) Alex Caruso do that the last two years. I didn’t see him out there today.”
It very well could have been the Tyler Davis low-post scoring clinic.
A&M’s 6-10, 270-pound sophomore center routinely sealed off Corpus Christi’s smaller defenders and turned entry passes into easy layups en route to a career-high 25 points.
Davis converted nine of 12 field goals and hit seven of nine free throws to account for most of the Aggies’ 40 points in the paint.
“My teammates just found me in the right spots,” Davis said. “My job is to post hard and create angles for the guards and get the ball and score.
“We’re supposed to play well inside against smaller teams. It’s our strength and their weakness. We decided to attack that … just get inside the paint. That was the key to the game.”
Corpus Christi coach Willis Wilson agreed.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Aggie center Tyler Davis scored a career-high 25 points against the Islanders on Monday.
“Every time we got a chance to put pressure on them, they leaned on what they do – go inside to the paint. Obviously, Tyler Davis’ play speaks for itself. We knew that would be a handful for us all night long.”
Though Davis was putting on a low-post scoring clinic for the announced crowd of 6,275, he got plenty of help.
Guard Admon Gilder, who had a pair of three-pointers in a pivotal first half run, scored 17 for the Aggies (5-2), who were back in action for the first time since a 74-67 loss to UCLA eight days ago.
Tonny Trocha-Morelos added 13, and freshman Robert Williams had eight – three baskets coming on spectacular dunks off alley-oop passes.
D.J. Hogg only managed seven points but compensated with nine assists and three blocked shots.
A&M-Corpus Christi (5-2) was led by guard Cole Martinez with 14 points and 6-8 senior forward Rashawn Thomas, who had 12 before fouling out.
The visiting Islanders, who entered the game 17th in the nation in scoring, were held to their lowest offensive output of the season.
Yet, A&M coach Billy Kennedy wasn’t satisfied with the Aggies' defensive effort, nor the fact that the Aggies were out rebounded, 39-31. That included 19 offensive boards for Corpus Christi.
“It’s always good to get the win, but we didn’t defend like wanted to,” Kennedy said. “Maybe not playing for seven, eight days … I don’t know. Eight days. I just know we’ve got to get better defensively. When we were not making shots, we weren’t playing with a sense of urgency on defense.”
Most of that would’ve been in the first half when the Aggies appeared to show the affects of going a week without playing.
But when they finally shook off the rust, they did so in a big way.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M guard Admon Gilder was instrumental in the Aggies' 15-2 run late in the first half.
Gilder hit a pair of three-pointers from the left corner, and Trocha-Morelos scored a breakaway dunk to highlight the run, which gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the half.
Trocha-Morelos and Davis each had 11 points, and Gilder had eight in the half.
The Aggies eventually took a 45-33 lead at intermission. And although they were always in control in the second half, they struggled to put the Islanders away.
A&M maintained an 11-point lead with two minutes remaining. The Aggies closed with consecutive three-pointers by Gilder and Chris Collins to account for the final 17-point margin.
Kennedy acknowledged his team might not have been as focused and usual. He also said that was not acceptable.
“Great teams and good teams look good every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing UCLA in Anaheim or at home when it’s raining outside and you don’t have a packed house,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got to develop habits where we're playing hard every day in areas where we need to get better.
“Somebody has to step up. We watched (former star) Alex Caruso do that the last two years. I didn’t see him out there today.”
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