A step up in competition. A slip on the next rung. A violent fall.
Those three sentences summed up Texas A&M’s miserable 73-55 loss to TCU on Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
It wasn’t that close. The Aggies (3-1) trailed by more than 30 points at one juncture. They converted five of their last six shots to bring the margin under 20.
In their first road trip of the season, A&M proved too unreliable on the perimeter, too overmatched in the paint, too late on defense and too careless with the basketball.
“We have to play way harder and together with a higher IQ on both ends of the floor,” A&M coach Buzz Williams lamented. “None of that was evident today.”
That was evident almost from the outset. The Aggies struggled from 3-point range, converting just one of nine shots from behind the arc in the decisive first half.
Misfiring outside, they went inside to find TCU’s 6-foot-11 center Kevin Samuel waiting. That resulted in too many double-pump, awkward shots.
Jay Jay Chandler led A&M with 12 points, while Quenton Jackson had 11 and Emanuel Miller had 10.
The roles were polar opposite on the defensive end. TCU hit a half dozen 3-pointers in the first half. When A&M’s defense extended, the Horned Frogs (5-2) worked inside for high percentage shots.
Guards R.J. Nembhard and Mike Miles combined for 31 points and nine of TCU’s 10 treys.
Complicating matters, A&M committed 20 turnovers, which the Frogs parlayed into 19 points.
All in all, it was a jolt of reality for the Aggies, who had previously beaten New Orleans, Tarleton State and Texas-Rio Grande Valley at Reed Arena.
“This was our first game against a Division I, Power 5 school. It was a good test for us,” sophomore guard Andre Gordon said. “I think it’ll help us down the road, once we play bigger and better teams.”
They can only hope.
A&M could only seriously challenge TCU for about eight minutes. The Aggies maintained a lead until Miles’ runner with 12:03 showing gave TCU an 11-10 edge.
That shot launched a 15-2 run over the next 6:51. Most of the Frogs' damage was done close to the basket. Meanwhile, A&M missed four consecutive 3-point attempts in the drought.
By the time Miller ended the run with a pair of free throws, the Horned Frogs were in control, 23-14.
TCU never slowed down. Leading 28-18, Miles scored a conventional 3-point play to start a 14-2 run that left the Aggies trailing 42-21 at intermission.
The break didn’t help. A&M missed four shots and committed four turnovers in the first three minutes of the second half. As a result, TCU scored the first 10 points of the half and cruised from there. The Frogs’ lead grew to as many as 33 points, 58-25.
“We weren’t disciplined in our execution. We weren’t disciplined in how we operate,” Miller said. “It was a bad night. We struggled a lot in how we moved the ball on offense and how we attacked the ball on offense. The result is what happened.”
Miller, however, did not seem discouraged. Perhaps that’s because he has already experienced and overcome a similar situation.
Miller was part of last year’s team that played poorly in consecutive losses in an early tournament in Orlando, Fla.
The Aggies bounced back to have a strong showing in the Southeastern Conference race.
“Our identity is to fight every second of the game,” Miller said. “Today, we didn’t do that. But I’m excited. Now, we find our ‘Why.’
“What happened today will only make us better.”
