The Good, Bad, and Wild of Texas A&M Basketball's Season-Opening Win

Texas A&M's "Bucky Ball" makes its College Station debut with pace, press, and plenty of scoring.

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Buzz Williams honors guard Wade Taylor IV after the game against the Auburn Tigers at Reed Arena. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Watching Texas A&M’s basketball season opener felt like night and day compared to last year’s offense. In his first game at the helm, Bucky McMillan’s trademark “Bucky Ball” was on full display, giving the 12th Man a glimpse of what’s to come.

A&M handled Northwestern State 98–68, starting the McMillan era on the right foot.

The new-look Aggies looked sharp in their debut. And while there’s still plenty of room to grow, a 30-point win is nothing to complain about.

Good - “Bucky Ball” Has Arrived

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

The good could’ve been plenty, from the pace to the spacing to the energy, so let’s just make matters simple and categorize all of the above under “Bucky Ball”.

It was refreshing to finally see true ball movement in A&M’s offensive sets instead of stagnant isolation plays ending in contested jumpers. The constant motion and spacing translated into 22 total assists, opening up the floor for clean looks all night. The Aggies knocked down 11–31 from beyond the arc (35.5 percent) and went 35–72 from the field (48.6 percent), showing early signs of an efficient offense.

Another defining element of “Bucky Ball” was the full-court press, which was on full display in the season opener. The relentless pressure on the inbounds forced 16 turnovers and sparked long scoring runs that put Northwestern State away early.

With chemistry bound to grow and McMillan’s system progressing with each game, this A&M team already looks like a completely different product than anything Aggieland has seen in recent years.

Bad - Team Chemistry, at times

Texas A&M head coach Bucky McMillan looks up at the video board during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

A perfectly normal occurrence for a team featuring 14 new players playing an official game together for the first time. At varying points during the game, the Aggies looked sloppy after what can be assumed as miscommunication under McMillan’s system.

The sloppy stretch five minutes into the second quarter perfectly illustrates this. What started as a steal from Rylen Griffen quickly turned into a sequence of chaos as Marcus Hill was blocked in transition, Josh Holloway came up with a block of his own, the Aggies turned it over, and Northwestern State buried a three to end the play.

Crazy sequence but McMillan did warn the media that this was part of “Bucky Ball”.

Wild – How Good of a Shooter Ruben Dominguez Is

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

No college player should ever be labeled “one of the best shooters in the world.” The odds that such a player suits up in College Station seem ridiculous, right? Yet that’s exactly what Bucky McMillan says the Aggies have in Ruben Dominguez. And it was on full display on Monday night.

The Spaniard casually dropped 18 points on 4-7 from deep in what looked like another day in the office for him. Maybe that’s just how it is for someone that has been professional ball for over five years. 

There had been stories over the offseason about Dominguez making 90 percent on 700 3-pointers and 73 in a row multiple days after practice. Whether those are true or not, his performance Monday night made them feel a lot more believable.