Texas A&M
3-1
New Mexico
3-2
House Leads Basketball to 64-51 Win over New Mexico
Nov 23, 2014 | Men's Basketball
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) --
Danuel House had 18 points and Texas A&M rallied from 12 points down to beat New Mexico 64-51 in the fifth-place game at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Jalen Jones added 13 for the Aggies (4-1), who shot 62 percent from the field in the second half.
It was the first game for House, a transfer from Houston, who was just approved to play this season by the NCAA on Friday.
The Lobos (3-2) seemed to be in control early, but were undone by 16 turnovers. New Mexico's shooting also deteriorated in the second half and was just 34 percent for the game.
Deshawn Delaney led New Mexico with 13 points. Hugh Greenwood added 10.
The Aggies host New Orleans on Nov. 28. The Lobos host USC on Nov. 30.
Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 64, New Mexico 51
Nov. 23, 2014 ● Coliseo Roberto Clemente
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● Texas A&M improved to 3-1 on the season with Sunday's 64-51 victory over New Mexico in San Juan, Puerto Rico … the loss dropped the Lobos' record to 3-2 on the season.
● The Aggies are now 2-6 all-time against New Mexico.
● The win gave Texas A&M a 2-1 showing during the 2014 Puerto Rico Tip-Off to clinch fifth place at the event.
TEAM NOTES
● In a tale of two-halves, the Aggies shot a blistering 15-for-24 after the intermission to outscore the Lobos 38-20 in the second half.
● Texas A&M's bench outscored the New Mexico reserves 38-11 … in the paint the Aggies also enjoyed the upper hand, holding 30-18 edge over the Lobos.
● A&M owned a 36-29 rebounding advantage, including 11 offensive rebounds which led to 11 second chance Aggie points.
● The Aggies recorded 16 assists on 24 made field goals during the contest.
● A&M's defense limited the Lobos to just 34.7 percent shooting for the game, including a .304 percentage during the second half when New Mexico only made seven shot attempts.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Junior Danuel House took full advantage of his return to the hardwood, leading the Aggies with 17 points in 29 minutes … the University of Houston transfer also collected six rebounds and had two assists.
● Junior Jalen Jones fell just short of recording his second straight double-double, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.
● Freshman Alex Robinson had a highlight day off the bench, finishing third on the team with 12 points … it was the freshman's first double-digit scoring effort of this season as the Arlington, Texas, native went 5-of-6 from the floor in 24 minutes of action.
● The SEC assist-leader from a season ago, Alex Caruso, was back at it again as he finished with 10 assists to go along with eight rebounds and five points … Carsuo now has three games of 10 or more assists during his A&M career and has produced at least five assists in each game this year.
● A trio of Aggies made their season-debut against New Mexico - House, sophomore Dylan Johns and freshman Tonny Trocha-Morelos.
FIRST HALF NOTES
● After trailing by as many as 12, the Aggies warmed up over the final 5:18 of the first half from the floor by making six of their last 11 shots heading into the locker room, including a trio of three-pointers … A&M opened the game making just three of their first 18 attempts from the floor.
● Texas A&M outrebounded New Mexico 20-17 in the opening frame. The Aggies grabbed nine offensive rebounds leading to nine second-chance points.
● The A&M bench welcomed the new faces to the team, outscoring the UNM bench 18-6 in the first 20 minutes of action … House had seven points at the break to go along with Davonte Fitzgerald's six and Antwan Space's five.
● After the opening tip the Aggies were only able to tie the game once and trailed for 18:59 of the first half.
UP NEXT
● Texas A&M returns to the friendly confines of Reed Arena for a 12:00 pm (CT) tip against New Orleans on Friday, November 28.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Craig Neal, New Mexico
“It was a tale of two halves in this game. We didn't play as good a defense in the second half as we did in the first and you're not going to be able to beat anyone when you allow them to shoot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half. I was impressed with our guys in the first half. I thought they battled but didn't take the punch in the second half to respond and we couldn't really get anything going.”
“You can't continually lose four minute game after four minute game and think you're going to win it. It just starts adding up. So they kind of got on top of us and we couldn't answer their challenge. It was just a tough game. They have a nice team, they play hard, they're athletic, they can make shots and I thought we did a good job keeping them off of the offensive boards but a lot of that is because they made such a high percentage of their shots. I was proud of my guys, we had a good game plan in place, we just didn't execute it in the second half. We'll go back home and get ready for USC on Nov. 30th.”
“We were prepared for House playing because we knew him from high school and AAU summer teams. We worked our game plan well in the first half, but we had too many turnovers and mistakes in the second half to keep control of the game and it got away from us. We started forcing and rushing things.”
“We missed not having Cullen (Neal) in the game and it put a lot of extra pressure on Hugh (Greenwood) and a lot of guys didn't step up in wanting to handle the ball and take good shots. We need to relieve some of this pressure from Hugh. We have to get some guys handling the ball better and making some plays. We have to start doing some little things like catching the ball, looking at the rim and shooting open shots, drive and make the right pass. “
“So we will get to work on that and hopefully we will develop and get better. But I really like my team and hopefully the newcomers will get better. We can't keep making the same mental mistakes over and over. I told the guys if they keep doing it we will keep subbing until we get consistent in doing it all right.”
Head Coach Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M
“We didn't adjust at all defensively in the first half and got behind. In the second half we got tougher defensively picked it up defensively we started to score in transition. I am really proud of all of our guys because when you bring in three new players sometimes it can totally disrupt a team. But I like our team's character and how they stuck together and pulled for each other the whole time. Danuel House is obviously an impact player for us and I really liked Alex Robinson stepping up the way he did and it was a good team win.”
“Our three players who became eligible in time for this game were House, Dylan Johns and Tonny Trocha-Morelos. We had great shots in the first half. I told our guys at half time if we take out the bad plays that we made in transition in turning the ball over--we had seven turnovers in first 10 minutes and only five for the rest of the game. We were getting wide open shots and just weren't making them and I knew at some point we would make them. Of course in the second half we started knocking them in.
“Good teams have a lot of good players, and that's how you win, you don't win with good coaching, you have to have good players. I told our guys that good teams win with a lot of good players and great teams win with a lot of good players who play together and are unselfish. That's our desire and that's our goal and we finally have some people here that can do some special things.”
“Our guys fought hard. The Dayton game was a war, a high-level game that got us some experience and two days ago a freshman led us in scoring with 16 points in Peyton Allen and then we had a freshman and a junior get double figures in points today. It is going to take a team effort and we have a lot to build upon but we also have a long ways to go in a lot of areas.”
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
