What Went Wrong For Texas A&M Basketball Against Houston?

Every book has its last chapter.

For Texas A&M, it was the end of the story in the Round of 32 in Oklahoma City, as it couldn’t advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the South region to have the opportunity to play closer to the fanbase.

Although it wasn’t the outcome the Aggies hoped for, it was a great place to lay the foundation for the future of basketball culture in Aggieland.

If the Aggies were able to get more 3-pointers to fall, shoot better from the field, and win the rebound battle, everyone is looking at a different game, but it was only the start of what’s ahead for head coach Bucky McMillan’s program that fell short of its goal.

Lack of Help

This was the lowest-scoring outcome that A&M has had all season. To advance to the next round and play like a Final Four and championship team, 57 points likely won't get the school into the next slot in the bracket.

An interesting part of this game was that only one player finished in double figures, and it was junior guard Josh Holloway, who was only one point away from tying his season-high, which came in the home opener against Northwestern State. Besides the player who came off the bench and finished as the only player with four or more field goals, there was no one else who found a way to get around the Houston defense.

When one of the guys who isn’t a starter and only averages 4.6 a game and 13 minutes, that isn’t going to cut it. There were 31 bench points for the Aggies and only nine offensive rebounds, which didn’t help a team that reeled in 19 of them. For the forwards to also only have 19 points against the Cougars' defense, who are arguably the best there is in the entire field, is also not a formula for beating a team coached by Kelvin Sampson.

A&M’s leading scorer, graduate forward Rashaun Agee, was limited to seven points, and A&M’s best guard, Rylan Griffen, was quiet with six points with no 3s. Then there was the Spanish Sniper, Ruben Dominguez, who was only 1 of 5 from the field and from beyond the arc.

There’s no player that should be singled out, and there is no one category or person to blame for the 88-57 loss, but having the Maroon and White see more production would have kept it closer.

Defensive Breakdowns

No doubt about it, the turning point of the game was when Houston extended its lead to 20 points in the first half after an 18-0 run cut down the number of possessions A&M would need to climb back into it.

During that run, the Aggies were sloppy covering the two freshmen and veterans, who took full advantage of what the defense was offering and exposed it. The Cougars' two freshmen, Chris Cenac Jr. and Kingston Flemings, combined for 10 of the 18 points, with Cenac Jr. playing like he was from a different planet, scoring eight of his own after four converted free throws, along with a beautiful jumper and layup.

Emotions were then evident after it was not the ideal position that ‘Bucky Ball’ wanted to be in, as it normally dictates the pace of the game and style of basketball it wanted to play, but every time anyone looked up, the lead kept on growing, and fouls began to accumulate.

In the second half, the Cougars allowed sophomore guard Mercy Miller to get some deserved minutes and had a phenomenal second half with 12 points that wasn’t talked about enough after not having a single point in the first period.

A&M’s defense just couldn’t catch a break either, after digging a deeper hole after Houston came out of the intermission with an 8-0 run that the same way it closed out the second round. There were several switches in the looks that McMillan was trying to throw at Sampson and Co., but ultimately, it was a shooting fest for Houston and the opposite for the No. 10 seed.

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