Despite fleeting postseason hopes, Aggies will continue to compete
Flickering hopes to make NCAA basketball tournament have all but burned out for Texas A&M.
Even the National Invitation Tournament seems like a stretch after the Aggies (16-11, 5-9) fell to Vanderbilt, 72-67, last Saturday.
Four Southeastern Conference games remain, beginning with a clash against Georgia (6-21, 1-13) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena. Another defeat ensures A&M finishes with a losing record in conference play.
So where’s the motivation to continue? Senior guard Quenton Jackson says it’s easily located in the heart and mind.
No matter the situation, competitors compete.
“I’m just a competitor,” Jackson said after the loss to Vanderbilt. “I understand everything that’s going on. I’m not naive to anything that’s going on. So, I understand all the tournament talk and all of that. But at the end of the day, I’m a competitor.”
Unfortunately, not all the Aggies are competing at the same level as Jackson, who leads A&M with a 13.4 scoring average. He’s scored in double figures in nine consecutive games.
The Aggies have struggled from the 3-point line of late. They’ve shot just 16.4 percent (10-of-61) from 3-point range in their last three games.
However, that wasn’t an issue in an 81-79 victory over Georgia on Jan. 4. The Aggies shot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from 3-point range, including a game-winning trey by Marcus Williams with less than a second remaining.
That close call shows that A&M cannot take victory for granted despite Georgia’s ugly record and that the Bulldogs have a seven-game losing streak.
Georgia beat Alabama on Jan. 25 and fell to league-leading Auburn by two points on Feb. 5.
“We’ll have to be much better than we were at their place at guarding the ball, keeping the ball out of the paint,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “The usage rate of some of their guys has changed since the last time we played them, and they’re much more effective offensively. We’ve got to make some adjustments to be prepared for that.”
The Aggies must do a better job containing Bulldogs guards Kario Oquendo and Noah Baumann. Oquendo had 21 and Baumann 19 in the first game.
Oquendo leads the Bulldogs with a 14.4 scoring average and is on a hot streak. He’s averaged 19.5 points over the last seven games.
Senior guard Braelen Bridges also averages 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds. He had 12 points and seven boards against A&M.
However, the Aggies are more focused on bouncing back from the Vanderbilt loss and executing better in crunch time.
“You can soak in the loss. You can cry. You can do this other stuff. At the end of the day, you’ve got to move on,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to figure out how to get better. We’ve got to figure out how to win games at the end when they’re close. All we can do is try to get better every day.”
