No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies Handle SMU Mustangs, Move to 3-0
The Texas A&M Aggies entered this college basketball season with higher expectations than normal.
They've now put these expectations to the test in back-to-back games on the road and have yielded promising results, including on Tuesday night in Dallas against the SMU Mustangs.
Following a 73-66 win at Ohio State on Friday, No. 13 Texas A&M (3-0) got a scoring eruption from guard Tyrece Radford at the end of the first half, used tough defense down the stretch and never trailed in the second half on Tuesday en route to a 79-66 win over SMU.
Radford led A&M with 21 points and seven rebounds. Forward Henry Coleman III was big on the boards, finishing with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
SMU (3-1) got a game-high 21 points from guard Chuck Harris while Zhuric Phelps (13 points, six rebounds) and Emory Lanier (10 points) added double-digit scoring efforts.
Aggies guard Wade Taylor IV finished with 15 points and five assists. He struggled with his shot, going 4 of 17 from the floor and 0 of 7 from deep in the return to his hometown of Dallas, but he caused havoc on defense with six steals and one block.
Turnovers were the name of the game. Texas A&M committed just seven turnovers while SMU turned the ball over 16 times. The Aggies also went an impressive 22 of 27 from the foul line to help salt the game away.
Tyrece Radford
© Joseph Maiorana, USA TODAY
The Mustangs got hot from deep in the first half and built a 21-17 lead after three quick triples highlighted an 11-3 run. But Radford had four 3s of his own during this final stretch and Taylor had a steal-to-layup sequence at halfcourt as A&M led 39-32 at halftime.
At the half, Radford had 16 points and a tons of noticeable confidence. He scored 14 of these points in the final 6:26 of the first half.
A&M kept SMU at bay during the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Mustangs were unable to cut a manageable deficit single digits. But SMU just wouldn't go away and cut the lead to 54-50 as the crowd in Dallas got back into it with 8:58 to play. This was the closest it had been since the final minute of the first half.
From this point on, the Aggies buckled down on defense and slowly wore down SMU in the final minutes.
After a wild loose ball sequence, Aggies guard Jace Carter hit a corner triple with 4:49 to play to make it a 64-52 game and put a dagger through any hope SMU had.
The Mustangs continued to fight with full-court press and got some steals late, but it was too little too late.
The Aggies will host Oral Roberts on Friday.