Texas A&M
16-7, 7-4SEC
Georgia
16-7, 7-4SEC
Men's Basketball Falls to Georgia, 62-53
Feb 11, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Kenny Gaines scored 15 points, on 6-of-12 shooting, and Charles Mann added 14 to help Georgia beat Texas A&M 62-53 on Wednesday night.
The game was tied midway through the second half before the Bulldogs reeled off eight consecutive points, including a 3-pointer by Taylor Echols, to lead 51-43 with 6:46 remaining. Georgia later took a 55-51 lead with 43 seconds remaining when Gaines sank a 3-pointer from the left corner to put away the Aggies, who have won seven of their last nine.
Georgia (16-7, 7-4) has won two straight following a two-game losing streak. The Bulldogs are now 4-0 all-time against the Aggies, in a series that only dates to 2013.
Texas A&M (16-7, 7-4) committed nearly twice as many turnovers (13) as Georgia (seven).
Alex Caruso led Texas A&M with 20 points.
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● The 62-53 loss to Georgia on Wednesday at Reed Arena dropped the Aggies' overall record to 16-7 on the year with a 7-4 mark in SEC play.
● Wednesday's setback was just Texas A&M's second loss on its home court this season, where they now own a 10-2 mark.
● The all-time series between A&M and Georgia now stands at 4-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
TEAM NOTES
● The 53 points was the fewest for Texas A&M since scoring 53 against Dayton on Nov. 20.
● A&M was guilty of 13 turnovers in the loss, leading to a 15-2 Bulldog advantage in points off turnovers.
● The Bulldogs owned 34-31 halftime advantage … A&M rallied to take a 38-36 lead with 15:50 to play in the second half and again at 40-39 with 14:43 remaining, but the Bulldogs countered by outscoring the Aggies 23-13 the rest of the way.
● The Aggies used the starting lineup combination of Alex Caruso, Jordan Green, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson for the 14th time this season (10-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Junior guard Alex Caruso led the Aggies in points (20), rebounds (6) and assists (4) during the contest … the 20-point showing was the fourth time Caruso has hit the 20-point mark during his career … the College Station native was 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
● Junior guard Danuel House reached double-digit scoring for the 14th time this year, contributing 14 points on the night despite missing significant time in the first half due to injury.
● A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 66-56 in his fourth season at Texas A&M and 277-235 in 17 years as a head coach.
UP NEXT
● The Aggies' three-game home stand continues on Saturday as Texas A&M welcomes the Florida Gators to Reed Arena for a 5:30 p.m. contest that will be televised on SEC Network.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
“We got beat by a very good Georgia basketball team. They played like a veteran team and a more disciplined team offensively. I though our guys didn't show a lot of poise in the second half. We didn't handle some adversity well, from the beginning when House was out in the first half. Jalen foul trouble, Kourtney foul trouble, we did a poor job of handling the adversity and Georgia played extremely well. They did a really good job running offensive and playing discipline, veteran basketball.”
On physicality of Georgia…
“I think they gave us some problems around the basket. Jalen struggled scoring against them and got frustrated just because the way they physically play. In a possession game like that, we had twice as many turnovers as them almost; we had thirteen turnovers they had seven. It 15-2 points off of turnovers. You cannot turn the ball over to a good disciplined team like they are, that was a big thing to overcome. It seemed like we were playing catch up the whole game from the first half on, with Jalen getting in foul trouble and House not playing for a long stretch, but we still had opportunities. Georgia was good especially.”
On approaching the rest of the three-game home stand…
“We have to get better tomorrow. We are not worried about Florida yet we have to worry about ourselves, get better Friday and come in and play well. We have to play better than we played today, especially the second half.”
On his team having the ability to bounce back…
“I think so; it's a growing process. I just told my coaches, playing at home with a lot of confidence and adrenalin in front of the fans and family, everything is good you have to learn how to deal with it. We didn't deal with it real well. We had some frustration. On the road, it's our team against everybody else, it was a little bit of a different setting. I think our guys have good character they usually learn from this and get past it.”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR DANUEL HOUSE
On urgency of getting to the basket…
“We just noticed that we were in the bonus and we just tried to take advantage of the situation at the moment in time and create for our teammates.”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR ALEX CARUSO
On what changed after first five minutes…
“I think both teams did a good job of just making shots, a couple we took were contested, a couple they took were really contested, they just fell in and I think once the flow of the game everybody's legs kicked in and defense picked up a little bit.”
On reason for not being sharp…
“Just a poor job of us playing, that's what it comes down to. It's up to the five guys on the court to execute and to put out the coaches orders and put it into play and we didn't do a good enough job of that tonight.”
On regrouping after loss…
“It's the same thing I've said all year, next game's the most important one. We're going to learn from this one, we're going to take the negatives and turn them into positives for us. We're going to get back in practice and work harder and come ready to play Saturday.”
GEORGIA ASSISTANT COACH PHILIP PEARSON
Opening statement…
“We thought it was a great team win for us. Obviously, we came out here and Texas A&M has a really nice team and having a great year and we knew it would be a tough game. They're good on offense, they defend you well and we started off the first of the game there and I was afraid we were out there for a shootout the way we both got off to such a hot start. We were able to get our defense corrected and much better later in the first half and then into the second half when, obviously, you hold them to 34 percent there in the second half. That was big for us and probably the difference in the game.”
On correcting issues in second half…
“We didn't necessarily change. We changed our defenses throughout the game, we played a little bit of man, we played a little bit of zone, we did some different things within our man but we just really got down and got with it and got our sneakers squeaking and gave them one shot that I thought was big in the second half. We had some good stops on the inside and when they missed it we were able to rebound the ball which is obviously critical.”
On importance of the victory…
“We just try to take them one at a time but, obviously, anytime you can have a chance to get one on the road, that's a shot in the arm and we're fighting with Texas A&M and several others in there to be in the top half of the league and got a lot of games to play so this is a big one for us, no doubt.”
On Georgia's good luck against Texas A&M…
“Well you said luck. I think it's probably luck but Billy's a great coach here at Texas A&M, I've known him for a long, long time. We haven't played a ton to be honest with you, I think it's only three or four games, but just tough hard fought game and we made a few more plays than they did tonight.”
Team Stats
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