by Turner Dawson
Coming off of a huge week with wins over Missouri and Baylor, the No. 23 ranked Texas A&M basketball team traveled to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech on Saturday before returning home to face the No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks at Reed Arena in ESPN’s Big Monday matchup.
On Monday night the Jayhawks came to town in one of the most hyped games in A&M history. It marked the first time a number one ranked team has come to Reed Arena and it was a huge opportunity for the Aggies to finally gain some national respect… and Reed Arena was rocking.
Donald Sloan came out hot and scored 12 points in the first half. But then he cooled in the second half and finished with just 15. Once again Sloan put up a pretty good point total but it came at a cost. He put up 18 shots and made just 6 of them. In his defense, he is frequently relied on late in the shot clock to try and create something himself and he has to force up some tough shots, but he definitely had some questionable shot selection. Ideally you want Sloan taking the most shots on the team, but I think 18 is too many, unless he’s on fire.
But what really hurt the Aggies in this game was Bryan Davis. He was in foul trouble all night and was limited to just 23 minutes. In those 23 minutes, Davis had more turnovers, 6, than points, 4. That cannot happen.
David Loubeau picked up the slack in the paint as he finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds and only had 1 turnover to go along with it. He was fantastic in this game. He is a tremendous low post scorer and his defense has greatly improved. He was a huge reason the Aggies stayed in this game.
Another factor that hurt the Aggies in this one was the fact that the Aggies made just 5 of 11 free throw attempts and 5 of 21 three point attempts. Those are two areas that the Aggies have been very inconsistent in this season and they were both evident in this one. It’s hard to win shooting 35 percent from the field, 24 percent from three, and 46 percent from the line. B.J. Holmes, who had appeared to be heating up in the last couple of games, finished 0 for 6 from the field with 0 points.
Yet despite all of those problems, the Aggies had the lead with about 4 and ½ minutes to play but didn’t score a point in the final 3.5 minutes. It speaks volumes about the toughness of this team and their ability to stay with the best team in the country, even when they played poorly. Some of those problems were caused by Kansas, but the free throws and the missed wide-open shots are on the Aggies. The fact that they hung with the Jayhawks I think gained the Aggies a lot of respect around the country.
Before Kansas, the Aggies put away the Red Raiders in a weekend road game in Lubbock. The Aggies came out with a sluggish start but eventually got it going to grab the lead at halftime, 35-30. Tech would make another run in the second half and lead the Aggies by four midway through the second half. The Aggies went on a 10-2 run and hit their free throws down the stretch to ice it.
B.J. Holmes and Bryan Davis really carried this team in this game as Holmes scored 18 points with 4 three pointers and Davis added 13 points with a stunning 16 rebounds. This was without question Davis’ best game of the season.
Donald Sloan also added 14 points but it came at a price. He shot just 36 percent from the field and had 7 turnovers. Point guard Dash Harris also had 5 turnovers in this game.
Next week, the Aggies do not play until Saturday as they travel to Ames, Iowa to take on Iowa State. The Cyclones are a dangerous team and are lead by an NBA caliber player in Craig Brackins. While the Cyclones are certainly capable of beating the Aggies, they are just 2-8 in Big 12 play and it is a game that the Aggies should absolutely win. It’s a road game but I wouldn’t expect much of a crowd at the game. The Aggies are currently in third place in the Big 12 and are 7-4 in conference. A win against the Cyclones would get the Aggies to 8 wins and would virtually guarantee them a birth into the NCAA tournament.