Aggies focused on fixing early errors as they host Louisiana-Monroe
Texas A&M looks to start its basketball season Louisiana-and-0 tonight at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (1-0) will face Louisiana-Monroe (2-0) tonight at 7:00 p.m. after opening with a 77-63 victory over Northwestern State last week. Junior guard Savion Flagg scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished five assists in the opening victory. Fellow junior guards Quentin Jackson and Jay Jay Chandler also combined for 24 points.
ULM defeated Louisiana College to begin its season and followed with a 73-72 overtime victory over Alcorn State.
The Warhawks are led by guards J.D. Williams and Michael Ertel. Williams is averaging 21 points per game, and Ertel averages 15.5. They account for more than half of ULM’s scoring thus far.
However, the Aggies figure to be more concerned with their own problems than any particular threats ULM might pose.
Though dominant at times and never in jeopardy of losing to Northwestern State, the Aggies committed 14 turnovers, allowed 19 offensive rebounds and hit just 4 of 15 attempts from 3-point range.
Coach Buzz Williams no doubt is seeking improvement in those areas.
“The issues we have offensively, our turnovers are going to be a big part,” Williams said after the win over Northwestern State. “On the other end, can we finish with a defensive rebound? I think if we can do both of those, then we’ll have a chance to be OK. It’s when both of those things negatively happen simultaneously that we’re really going to struggle. As any team would.”
Even if they improve, though, Williams said the Aggies must be tenacious and tough-minded.
“Everything over the next 125, 126 days until we get to Nashville (for the Southeastern Conference Tournament) will be hard,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to learn to embrace that. I don’t think anything will be easy for our group.”
Indeed, the schedule gets much harder soon. Following ULM the Aggies next face No. 8 Gonzaga on Friday at Reed Arena.