Texas A&M Upsets No. 20 Missouri in College Station
Taking the court for its third SEC contest of the season — and first against a ranked opponent — Texas A&M Aggies basketball hosted the Missouri Tigers and its high-ranking offense, looking for their third conference upset in as many games.
The Aggies built on arguably their strongest defensive performance of the season — holding the Tigers to a season-low 64 points — and did just that, defeating the #20 ranked Tigers 82-64.
To begin the game, no answer could be found for Missouri senior forward Kobe Brown, who scored 10 of the team’s first 12 points. When Brown moved to the bench, however, the Tigers began to struggle offensively, adding only 13 more points to their first-half total.
A defensive adjustment early in the first half focused on stopping Brown when he was on the floor, which proved to be successful for the Aggies, who stopped the senior from scoring the rest of the half. Rallying behind junior guard Hayden Hefner, who tied his season-high points with 12 in the first half, the Aggies went to the break in a comfortable fashion up by 18.
To open the second half, however, Texas A&M faced a different challenge. Though it managed to slow down Brown and company in the first half, the Missouri defense coming out of halftime proved to be more than the Aggies were ready for.
Added intensity stemming from a more motivated Missouri team who began to press full court forced the Aggies to give up the ball 11 times in the first 10 minutes, which Missouri used to cut the lead down to only 4 behind 8 second-half points from Missouri guard D’Moi Hodge.
But in response, the most recent SEC player of the week made clear that he would have his way. Junior guard Julius Marble grabbed 5 rebounds and scored 11 points on the night along with sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, who scored 14 of his own to once again extend Texas A&M’s lead.
The Aggies finished strong, continuing to hold off the Tiger offense, and recorded 82 total points — largely due to their offense’s ability to draw fouls — en route to their 18 point victory and upset. The Tigers recorded 11 more fouls than the Aggies, marking the seventh game in the last eight where that stands true.
Now looking to add a sixth win to its hot streak, Texas A&M will travel to Columbia, South Carolina Jan. 14 to face the Gamecocks. A win there would mark the second straight year that the Aggies start 4-0 in SEC play — a more-than-ideal start for any team looking to earn an NCAA tournament berth. Tipoff will be at 5:00 p.m.
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