Turnovers plague No. 17 Texas A&M as Longhorns upend Aggies, 76-60
Pressure defined today’s outcome.
More specifically, 40 minutes of an unsparing man-to-man defense from No. 15 Texas haunted No. 17 Texas A&M, with the Aggies succumbing to a dismal 19 turnovers.
The Longhorns managed to fend off a couple of late runs to rout the Aggies, 76-60.
“They did what they do best, pressuring the ball for 40 minutes. We just didn’t take care of the ball,” guard Kayla Wells said. “Like coach Blair said, when we get to run our half-court offenses, we’re pretty good, but they took us out of it, and we couldn’t do anything about it today.”
A&M center Sydnee Roby emerged as one of the few bright spots from the game, leading a third-quarter charge in the low post to give the Longhorns a taste of their own medicine. Roby finished with a team-high 16 points as Destiny Pitts and Wells also notched double-figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“I loved (Roby’s) fight in the second half. Basically, she just got mad at herself at the way she was playing, and she went to work,” Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said. “But remember the other girl (Lauren Ebo) went to work on us in the first half. Tale of two halves.”
A&M jumped out to an early lead behind three 3-pointers by Pitts. However, the Ags never led in the remaining 35 minutes of the match.
To make matters worse, the three-ball suddenly fell flat for A&M, sparking a 20-2 Texas run that extended well into the second quarter.
The Aggies were often beat off the dribble to the inside, and the few times an A&M defender got in front, the ball was quickly kicked out with Texas shooting 53 percent (8/15) from beyond the arc, while A&M suffered a season-low 29 percent (5/17).
“We weren’t where we were supposed to be. We have a gap defense. No one was in a gap,” Wells said. “Everyone was huddled up, so we need to do better at jumping at the ball and getting in those gaps so we can take those drives away.”
Sahara Jones tried to break the ice and reignite the Aggies heading into halftime with an and-1. Jordan Nixon followed suit with a pull-up three and a beautiful reverse layup after weaving through a herd of orange.
Nonetheless, the Aggies failed to contain the Longhorn backcourt as guards Aliyah Matharu and Rori Harmon combined for 30 second-half points to run away with the win.
Texas erased any Aggie momentum by forcing ten second-half turnovers. The Longhorns outscored A&M in points-off-turnovers, 32-0.
“We are a good basketball team now, but there is so much difference to be able to go to that next level, and we will find our way,” Blair said. “Give Texas credit. We got outplayed today.”
The Aggies return to Reed Arena on Thursday to face Texas Southern. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. CT.