By Turner Dawson
The Texas A&M basketball team is now two games into conference play as we begin the spring semester and it has been an up and down start. The Aggies came out of non-conference play with a solid 11-3 record including big wins against top 20 teams Clemson and Minnesota in the 76 Classic. Those are the kinds of wins that will look very good on the Aggies NCAA Tournament resume.
However, the non-conference slate also saw losses to top 25 teams West Virginia and Washington as well as a loss to a very talented New Mexico team. But the biggest loss of non-conference play was the loss of senior guard Derrick Roland. Roland suffered a gruesome broken leg in the game at Washington that effectively ended his collegiate career. Roland is the Aggies top on ball defender and had really brought his offensive game to another level as he was averaging 10.5 points per game.
So the Aggies went into their first conference game against Nebraska without their senior leader and played very inspired, particularly on the defensive end. The Aggies suffocated the Cornhuskers all game and allowed them to shoot only 37 percent from the field and held them to just 53 points.
Offensively, the Aggies were lead by another senior guard, Donald Sloan, who has been a friend and teammate of Roland’s since they were in 8th grade and came to A&M together. Sloan led all scorers with 26 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the field and an unbelievable 13 of 14 from the free throw line.
Bryan Davis joined Sloan in double figures with 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds. True freshman Khris Middleton has replaced Derrick Roland in the starting lineup and has shown flashes of promise in his first season but looks like he is still adjusting to the speed of the game. He is a tall lanky player that came to college with a reputation as one of the best three point shooters in the country but thus far he is only shooting 22 percent from deep. But he did hit one three against Nebraska and contributed 9 points.
After picking up the big win against Nebraska to start conference play, the Aggies traveled to Manhattan, Kansas to take on a top 15 team in the Kansas State Wildcats. The Aggies feel victim to an extremely hot Denis Clemente who hit five three pointers in the first half despite coming into the game shooting just 29 percent from three.
The Wildcats rode the hot hand of Clemente and their superior size and strength to take down the Aggies 88-65. Middleton appeared to find his stroke in this one as he went 2 for 4 from three and lead the team with 16 points. He also added seven rebounds and two blocks. The Aggies desperately need him to step up and continue playing that way as the conference season progresses. Sloan struggled to get going in this one as finished 3 for 11 from the field and managed just 8 points in 35 minutes of play.
Bryan Davis was the only other player in double figures with 13 points but with this game he is now just 8 for 17 from the free throw line in conference play. That has been a problem for the whole team this season as they have shot just 65 percent from the line and especially Davis who is shooting 57 percent. Sloan and Holmes have been solid in that area, but the rest of the team has been atrocious.
Sloan has without question been the leader of this team all season. He has had a propensity to make poor decisions with the ball at times in his career but he has moved over to shooting guard position this season and has thrived in his new role. He is leading the team with 17.4 points per game.
But the Aggies must find some other players to step up, particularly on the inside. The Aggies were hurt by the departure of Chinemelu Elonu to the NBA draft and were counting heavily on Bryan Davis to step up in his place.
Davis seems to have regressed since his sophomore year. He got occasional playing time as a freshman and showed promise and then got even more as a sophomore of the bench and was absolutely dominate at times. When it was his turn to start as a junior he had some serious issues. He led the team in turnovers, he’s prone to getting into foul trouble, and he’s not much of a force on the inside.
Those issues have continued in his senior campaign. You don’t look for big men to get a lot of assists usually but Davis’ career assist-to-turnover ratio of .51 is about as bad as you will ever see. I cringe every time he attempts to put the ball on the floor. You would think that with him being the main guy in the middle that his points would go up but he is not even averaging double figures. The Aggies desperately need him to step up and become a force on the inside.
This team is extremely undersized. The Aggies have some very good guard play but they haven’t shot the ball particularly well this season and I fear that the Aggies will be beat up on the inside against some of the big and athletic teams in the Big 12. If the Aggies do well in conference this season, it will be because guys like Davis and David Loubeau step up and become a force down low. If they don’t step up, the Aggies are in serious jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament.