Thornton explains why the win over Texas is a 'good indicator' for A&M

As the color commentator on Texas A&M basketball radio broadcasts, Dr. John Thornton had a front-row seat to see the Aggies saw 'em off on Saturday night. He joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Live to review the 80-60 win and share what makes the Ags such a special group.

Key notes from Dr. John Thornton interview

• This Texas A&M basketball team is a really fun team to root for and watch. It’s a different look than what is going on around college athletics everywhere. To get to know your players, interact with them, enjoy being here and enjoy the crowds, there is a symbiotic relationship there. They’re fun guys. What’s not to like about this team? You have an All-American. We have an in-state presence. We have a great record going for us. We’ve played a tough schedule, and we opened up with Texas and beat them to start conference play.
   
• What’s interesting about the Texas win is looking at the depth. Texas supposedly has a one-and-done player in the freshman Tre Johnson, and then you have the supporting cast. They’re long; 6-foot-11, 6-foot-10. They’re very athletic and only had two losses. To do what Texas A&M did in the second half to run the floor on them is impressive.
   
• To me, when you can win like that against a talented team like that, it’s a pretty good indicator that you have your identity and are playing to that identity. That’s what Buzz Williams’ teams are. They’re playing hard, rebounding their tails off. Defensively, they’ll just wear you out, and offensively, they play within the bits, pieces and parts that they make up for this team. It’s unusual for this day and time.
   
• It’s fun to watch Pharrel Payne. Since CJ Wilcher, Payne and Zhuric Phelps have started to come on for A&M, you’re seeing them get better in this system. They’ve all come a long way, but Payne has added a presence that has been tremendous. Against Texas, Payne, Henry Coleman III and Andersson Garcia were the inside presences in the key. Other teams have to know where Payne is because he can play strong, explode and influence shots. He has added a dimension that we haven’t had recently.
   
• I love the way Williams mixes up his four-man and five-man. It’s a position-less basketball thing. To see the different combinations, that’s awkward for teams to consider matchups when they’re trying to defend. It makes coaches think about that all the time and their substitution patterns.
   
• Phelps is a senior who has played in another place. To come and fit into what we have to do at A&M to be successful is an adjustment. He also had the biggest smile on his face that I’ve seen since being here because he had taken over in the latter stages of that game. He is a threat to get to the rim.
   
• Everybody builds toward this, but how many programs get to this point? If you saw, at the end of that game, they understand the gravity of opening conference play against Texas. The different personalities of our guys were on display while celebrating with our student body and sawing Varsity’s horns off. That doesn’t happen in a lot of places.
   
• If you go back over the non-conference schedule, we’ve had players contribute without standing out at times. Hayden Hefner is a perfect example of that. He’s way more athletic than people think he is. He’s in a different role now, too. A lot of times, he’d be a “get-back” guy, where he couldn’t go to the rim because he’d be responsible for preventing the break. The way we play now, he gets to go to the boards. Those put-backs were tremendous. He’s a 3-point threat. Kudos to him for staying the course and finding his role. He was a big part of how we started the game and the second half.
   
• Williams always talks about how everyone thinks the bigger players are the ones getting the boards, but it’s imperative that our guards rebound, especially how we rotate defensively. Everyone has to be there. It’s team rebounding. You can’t say that we will be a good rebounding team. You have to work at it, and we’re very special at it.
   
• We’ve seen Manny Obaseki where he has been dominant. His role and what he was asked to do with Wade Taylor IV being out is a lot of responsibility. You always want to take advantage of the mismatches that Obaseki can create because he’s strong and can get in the paint. He’s quick. There is a fine line between him running the show and also breaking people down if the defender overplays.
   
• One of the things about having these guys together for so long is that defense is hard. They are as synced as I’ve seen them. If you go back to the first half, I think Texas scored twice on out-of-bounds plays and hit two 3-pointers in transition. Those were awkward for us. We have come a long way. I like our body of work and who we’ve played. Texas Tech and Creighton shoot the heck out of it, but we beat them. We lost to Oregon, but we did a good job against them. We hold people below their 3-point field goal percentage, but that’s hard work.
   
• What I like about Taylor is, in the past, if he didn’t have an explosive game, we were probably fighting an uphill battle. Now, we have different pieces, and he’s no secret. Other teams are on him and double-teaming him, that’s creating other problems for the opponent because it’s creating opportunities for other Aggies. Taylor has shown great judgment, but he does have heat checks every now and then. He has done a great job. He’s such an important part of other people being better. Wilcher got hot against ACU, and Taylor got the ball to him.
   
• If they take Taylor off the ball and where he is not the guy who orients the offense in the half-court, because Phelps and Obaseki have done that at times, it’s tough to follow Taylor because he gets his shot off so fast.
   
• In the SEC this year, if you show up and aren’t ready to play, you will have some issues. Oklahoma is a tough place to play. They play super fast, get up and down the floor and get on rolls. Porter Moser is a great coach. Defensively, they’re really good. Jeremiah Fears is an exceptional point guard. The Sooners didn’t shoot like they normally do vs. Alabama, but enforcing your will in that environment is tough.
   
• Your home games are most important. If you can go on the road and get one, that puts you ahead of the group.