Texas A&M
10-5, 1-2SEC
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Mississippi State
7-9, 0-3SEC
Men's Basketball Drops Bulldogs, 74-70
Jan 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Alex Caruso scored 21 points and Texas A&M got its first Southeastern Conference win, 74-70 over Mississippi State on Tuesday night.
The loss extends Mississippi State's conference skid to 16 games, which ties a school record. The Bulldogs have lost 21 straight on the road, with their last win away from home coming two years ago.
The Bulldogs made three 3-pointers in the last minute, but Texas A&M (10-5, 1-2) tacked on six free throws to lead 70-65 with 20 seconds left.
Mississippi State hung around after that, twice cutting it to three points in final 13 seconds. A&M answered again with free throws, making two by Caruso and two from Danuel House to secure the win. House finished with 19 points.
I.J. Ready led Mississippi State (7-9, 0-3) with 18 points.
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● Texas A&M won its first SEC game of the season Tuesday night at Reed Arena by defeating Mississippi State 74-70 … The Aggies are now 10-5 on the year with a 1-2 record in league play
● The all-time series between the schools stands at 4-3 in favor of Texas A&M.
TEAM NOTES
● The Aggies featured a balanced scoring attack during the win, with four players reaching double-digit points (Alex Caruso-21, Danuel House-19, Jalen Jones-16 and Kourtney Roberson-10) … it marked the fifth time this season A&M has put at least four players with 10 or more points.
● Tuesday's contest remained a tight affair into the final minute, when the Aggies made 11 of their last 13 free throw attempts to hold off a late Mississippi State rally.
● The Aggie defense limited the Bulldogs to just 35.6 percent shooting in the match-up (21-for-59), marking the ninth time this season A&M has held an opponent under 38 percent shooting in a game.
● Texas A&M used the starting line-up combination of Alex Caruso, Jordan Green, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson for the seventh time this season (5-2).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Junior guard Alex Caruso led all scorers with 21 points on the night, include 16 after halftime … the performance marked the third career 20-point game for the College Station native … Caruso also narrowly missed his first career double-double as he pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
● Junior forward Jalen Jones returned to the A&M lineup after missing the previous two games with an ankle injury … the Dallas native contributed 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
● Junior guard Danuel House shook off a slow start to score 18 of his 19 points during the second half.
● Sophomore forward Tavario Miller contributed seven rebounds on the night to give him 21 boards during his last three games.
● A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 60-54 in his fourth season at Texas A&M and 271-233 in 17 years as a head coach.
UP NEXT
● The Aggies are back on the road this weekend as they make a trip across the Sabine River into the Pelican State to face LSU on Saturday inside the Maravich Assembly Center ... Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. as the contest will be nationally televised by ESPN2.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
“I have to give Mississippi State credit. I thought they played extremely well the first half. They are not a team that shoots the three particularly well. Daniels had 11-13 points the first half. They played really well the first half, and I thought our team played like we had a bear on our back for whatever reason. I told them, 'There are going to be games where teams play well whether we're at home or whether we are on the road. We can't be frustrated when we're not up 10 or 15.' This is the SEC and there are not going to be a lot of easy games. We got frustrated at the end of the first half by missing free throws, by missing a couple layups, and by Mississippi State playing well. I told our guys at halftime, 'Guys, they played well.' We're in there so dejected, and rejected, and frustrated. We were down one. The kid threw up a three in front of our bench, and made a heck of a play. We have to have better composure. I thought we did a good job of that coming out in the second half with energy. Alex Caruso was tremendous. Danuel House picked up his effort, and Jalen, I thought, did some really good things, as well as Jordan Green in the second half.”
On the free throw shooting…
“We made 11 out of 13 free throws down the stretch, and pressure free throws. Those were big. You get to the line 44 times you're going to win a lot of games. But, you've got to make more than 28.”
On getting the win…
“It's a good win. It's SEC play; both teams were fighting for their first win. Mississippi State came in, and I thought they played with tremendous energy. Started three guys for the first time, I think, three of their best players in Craig Sword, Gavin Ware, and Roquez Johnson. They came out ready to play and played well.”
On Jalen Jones back in the lineup…
“It was good having him. He got tired a lot during the game, I thought not having really done anything for a week, and being off the floor. The first half he was big, the second half he got tired. Defensively and rebounding-wise, he can play much better. But, he hasn't played in a week, and only practiced one full practice before this game and that was Monday.”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR GUARD ALEX CARUSO
On the late free throws to win the game…
“We just focused in a little. We knew we had to make them in order to win the game, so we just got up there and did what we routinely do in practice and just shot it.”
On the first conference win…
“It feels great, even if it wasn't the prettiest or most dominating. A win is a win and it's good for the young guys to get that under their belt. But every game counts the same. Ultimately, every home game is important because you're going to have road games where shots just aren't falling, but at home you need to win as many games as you can. So it was good for us to get this first win, but we're still taking it game by game.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH RICK RAY
Opening Statement…
“I thought our guys had a great approach to this game, to start off. They were very business-like this whole trip. Every time we had a meeting or a travel time they were all there ten minutes early, beating me to that spot. I thought that gave us a good start to have success in this game. Offensively, our biggest thing is to value and share the ball. I thought we did a good job of that in the first half, but when we get down, guys try to make individual plays, not out of selfishness but simply to help the team. We still want to get those paint touches but when we get those, we want to open up and share the ball. We got away from that a little bit in the second half, but I told the guys if we go back and look at tape here defensively, we did a pretty good job. But at the end of the day, we were two big steps away from being successful defensively. Our help-side rotation was always late. Every time we allowed them to get the ball into the paint, if we would have taken two big steps over on that help-side rotation, we wouldn't have put ourselves in harm's way with the fouls. If we can correct that, we can have some success in this league.”
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