Dexter Dennis Finds Mojo, Shoe in Texas A&M Win Over LSU
Dexter Dennis broke out of his shooting slump, along with his shoes on Saturday at Reed Arena. Entering Texas A&M's SEC home opener, the Wichita State transfer hadn't scored more than 10 points since his 16-point performance against Oregon State in December.
Dennis found his mojo and lost one of his kicks during the Aggies' 69-58 win over LSU. On a layup with 3:44 left in the first half, Dennis grabbed his loose boot while hustling down the court to play defense.
With one hand, Dennis was doing his best to keep LSU's leading scorer KJ Williams from finding the rim. He tried to get his shoe on before eventually tossing it to the sidelines.
Compared to Marco Wilson's infamous shoe throw against the Tigers on the football field in 2020, this toss wouldn't come back to bite the Aggies in front of a lively home crowd.
The Aggies (10-5, 2-0 SEC) followed their defensive success at home just days after promising performance against Florida. A mere 72 hours after holding the Gators to 45.5 percent from the field (20-44), Texas A&M held LSU (12-3, 1-2) to just 17-of-49 on shots in the paint.
“Our staff has been as good as I’ve ever seen in my career of studying the opponent, understanding the opponent and then formulating a game plan,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said.” I just think we’ve played really hard, and we’ve played together. To some degree, we’ve played with great IQ.”
Offensively, the Aggies have just begun to find their identity. Julius Marble, a transfer from Michigan State, picked up his second consecutive 17-point game to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. Tyrece Radford tacked on 14 points, while Wade Taylor IV added 13.
But the real story Saturday was on Dennis' turnaround. Dennis, who was expected to be a key playmaker after a four-year run with the Shockers, had made just four of his last 29 shots entering Saturday, and scored 20 points in the previous five games combined.
Back in front of the home crowd, Dennis scored 15 points in the first half, and finished with a season-high 17 by the time the clock struck zero. Dennis said his teammates played a factor in helping keep his head up during the late-December slump.
“I think pretty much all credit goes to coaching staff and teammates for kind of keeping my confidence up a little bit and still telling me to shoot," Dennis said. “Sometimes, athletes, we get in our own head a little bit after we miss a couple in a row."
After losing back-to-back games to Memphis and Wofford, Marble said the team focused on the basics in practice. Attention turned to finding success around the rim, a glaring area of weakness for the program during the opening month of action.
"We’ve been working on pad work every day. Hitting each other with the pads. Pretty much kill each other with it,” Marble said. “If we can make that, we can make it in a game."
The work has paid off since. Texas A&M made just over 48 percent of its shots from the floor (26-54), and only trailed for 86 seconds. The Aggies also went on a 10-0 run with 5:28 remaining in the first half for an 11-point lead entering halftime.
“I think over the last six days, we’ve had great growth,” Williams said. “I mentioned to them yesterday at the end of practice that’s what metamorphosis is. When a form changes, whether that’s a plant, whether that’s a person, whether that’s a team, when it changes naturally or supernaturally."
With the victory, Texas A&M improved to 4-0 under Williams in SEC home openers. The Aggies also won their season-high fourth consecutive game following a sluggish 8-5 start against non-conference opponents.
Momentum will be the key to carrying Texas A&M into contention for the remainder of conference play. Last season, the Aggies found their stride during the closing weeks of SEC play, going 7-1 in their final eight matchups, including nabbing three wins in the SEC Tournament in Tampa.
There's still room for improvement on both sides of the court, but with back-to-back wins to start off SEC action, morale should be at an all-time high. That will need to carry over to Wednesday for the Aggies' next matchup against No. 20 Missouri.
Dennis said that the team would be ready for the midweek showdown against one of the hottest programs in the SEC, though this time, he'll make sure both shoes remain tightly laced.
“I was just hoping somebody didn’t come attack me (defensively),” Dennis said.
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