Texas A&M survives late Florida rally to mercifully end losing streak, 56-55

The Aggies halted a long skid by gaining traction at an unlikely spot.

Typically inconsistent at the foul line, Texas A&M (16-10, 5-8) was instead infallible in a 56-55 Southeastern Conference basketball victory over Florida  (16-10, 6-7) on Tuesday night at Reed Arena.

Freshman guard Wade Taylor IV converted three consecutive free throws with 19.5 seconds left to close out a perfect 16-of-16 showing and put an end to A&M’s eight-game losing streak.

Even after Taylor’s trio of clutch free throws, the Aggies still had work to do.

Florida’s Phlandrous Fleming Jr. missed a shot with mere seconds left. The rebound was originally ruled to have gone out of bounds off A&M’s Henry Coleman III with 0.8 seconds left.

However, upon video review, the Aggies were given possession. Hassan Diarra then lofted an in-bounds pass to Tyrece Radford at mid-court to secure the victory.

The Aggies had last prevailed 67-64 at Missouri on Jan. 15 — exactly one month ago.

“I’ve been a college coach 28 years and have never been through what we’ve been through over the last 30 days,” A&M head coach Buzz Williams said. “The resilience and the character of our guys. If you came to practice or to film room, you’d have no idea that we had lost eight games in a row, and four of those have been one or two-possession games.

“Then, even tonight when it became a one-possession game, I thought the character and the togetherness that they continued to fight with was incredible.”

The Aggies prevailed despite allowing 20 Florida offensive rebounds for 22 second-chance points. They also only converted 2-of-18 attempts from 3-point range (11.1 percent).

“I don’t think we’re an 11 percent 3-point shooting team,” Williams said. “I don’t think we’re necessarily a 100 percent shooting team, but I admire their guts.

“Without sounding condescending, we needed every one of those free throws to win by one.”

A&M has had its problems at the foul line. The Aggies hit only 5-of-13 free throws in a 64-58 loss to Kentucky, which started the losing streak.

They ranked just 13th in the SEC in free-throw accuracy at 66.3 percent. A missed free throw with 12 seconds left prevented them from perhaps forcing overtime in a loss to Missouri.

But the Aggies claimed they weren’t nervous when Taylor IV went to the line with A&M trailing 55-53.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Quenton Jackson carried the bulk of A&M’s offensive load with a team-high 16 points. 

“You shoot every one to make it,” senior guard Quenton Jackson said, who led the Aggies with 16 points, eight of which came via free throws. “There’s no secret to it. It’s just a testament to the work that we’ve continued to put in, regardless of the numbers and percentages. You’ve just go to keep working. That’s what we’ve been doing, and it paid off tonight.”

So did Williams' decision to start 7-foot freshman forward Javonte Brown to vie with Florida’s 6-foot-11 senior Colin Castleton.

Though Castleton recorded a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds, Brown played spirited defense, scored six points and seven rebounds — five on the offensive end.

“(Williams) just told me hit (Castleton) every time on the defensive boards,” Brown said. “He told me to play hard. Everyone has their days. Some days it’s going to be one guy. One day, it’s going to be another guy. Thank God it was my day. The guys set me up to perform. I did what I had to do, and we did what we had to do.”

Williams said that though Brown’s stats were modest, they were vital.

“The five offensive rebounds were huge for us,” Williams said. "In that eight-game losing streak, our fives (centers) were averaging a combined less than five points and less than five rebounds. Just tonight, he eclipsed those numbers in the 20 minutes he played. I thought that was huge.”

With Brown’s work inside, the Aggies held Castleton to six points in the first half as A&M took a 27-20 lead at the break.

The Aggies extended their lead to 43-31 on Brown’s put-back of a Jackson miss with 11:02 remaining.

However, little has come easy for the Aggies. This victory would be no different.

The Gators stormed back and held a 55-51 lead when Fleming Jr. drilled a second-chance 3-pointer with 1:44  to play.

The Aggies could’ve — some might have thought should’ve — collapsed under the weight of the losing streak and losing a double-digit lead.

Instead, Jackson came right back to hit a jumper.

Then, Coleman III corralled the rebound after a Fleming miss with 1:05 left.

After two A&M timeouts, Taylor IV missed a jumper, but Redford got the rebound with 32.6 seconds showing. That led to Taylor drawing a foul on Fleming behind the arc.

Taylor IV then hit the free throws to give A&M that long-awaited win.

“I feel exhausted. I feel humbled. I feel grateful,” Williams said. “I’m thankful that I’ll be able to hopefully sleep. I’m thankful our guys have the emotional and mental fortitude to be able to go through what they’ve been through and be able to respond tonight the way they did.”