Men’s basketball clinches key wins; continue on rough Big 12 schedule
By Turner Dawson | MAROON WEEKLY
Following a loss on the road to Kansas State and a hard-fought overtime loss to Texas, the Aggies were able to return to Reed Arena for a pair of games. They hosted the Oklahoma Sooners and then the Colorado Buffaloes to finish a tough opening stretch to conference play.
In the first half against the Sooners, the Aggies once again looked to be hitting on all cylinders.
B.J. Holmes finally got his shot going after having no luck from three-point range in his first three conference games. B.J. finished the game 5-11 from the field for 13 points. That gave the Aggies a 10-point lead heading into halftime but once again that lead evaporated in a hurry in the second half.
The Aggies seemed to hit everything in the first half but couldn’t seem to hit anything in the second half. It didn’t help that freshman guard Tommy Mason-Griffin went off for the Sooners for 21 points and 5 assists.
As an Aggie fan I can’t help but hope that Mason-Griffin leaves for the NBA soon, because he could be a player that kills us for years in the mold of Sherron Collins of Kansas.
Oklahoma eventually would grab the lead before the Aggies came scratching back. Sloan was huge for the Aggies in this game and he would ultimately hit the go ahead jumper with 32 seconds remaining and then hit two free throws to ice the game. Sloan finished with 16 points on 6-13 shooting.
Sloan really came up clutch in this game and further solidified himself as the go to guy for this team. Hopefully this is that breakthrough that he needed to be the type of gutsy player at the end of games like the Aggies need him to be. Like he saw Acie Law do in the one season they played together.
Colorado then came to town and proved that they are perhaps the most improved team in the Big 12 this season. The Aggies’ perimeter defense continued to show how much it misses Derrick Roland as Cory Higgins and Alec Burns each went for 19 points. Roland would have been perfect to match up on either of those guys.
Donald Sloan led the way for the Aggies in scoring as he had 18 points on the night. However I would like to see him have little better shot selection as he was just 5-15 from the field. But he once again was money from the free throw line and hit four huge free throws to ice the game. If nothing else Sloan is proving to be the go to guy at the free throw line at the end of games.
Bryan Davis played in my opinion his best game of the season. He had 12 points on 6-6 shooting with 9 rebounds including a stunning 6 on the offensive end to go along with 3 crucial blocks. This is what Bryan Davis looks like when he doesn’t force the issue and lets the game come to him and is determined on the glass. If he plays like this, A&M is a very good team.
Nathan Walkup also had a terrific game. He finished with a career high 16 points. If he ever gets some consistency with his shot he could be in my opinion the key player to this team. His hustle and basketball IQ is so underappreciated. He did a tremendous job in this game of working the baseline and sneaking in behind the Buffalo zone defense and getting easy looks. He was a big reason Dash Harris finished with an impressive 7 assists.
Up next the Aggies will travel to Stillwater to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys and then will be back at Reed Arena to play the Texas Tech Red Raiders. These are two teams that are very solid and very capable of beating the Aggies but they are both games I think the Aggies definitely need to win. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they got a split and won one out of two but losing both would really hurt.
One thing I feel very confident in saying is that this is without question an NCAA tournament team. As of now, they are not a Final Four or probably even a Sweet 16 team, but this team has way too much heart to not make the tournament. They have their issues and some glaring weaknesses, but you’ve got to love how this team competes and never backs down.