Texas A&M
17-7, 8-4SEC
Florida
12-13, 5-7SEC
Men Take Down Gators, 63-62
Feb 14, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy often talks about looking to his veterans to lead the team.
On Saturday his most experienced player did just that.
Kourtney Roberson, by far the Aggies' oldest player at 24, had a season-high 20 points and Texas A&M withstood a late charge from Florida to hold on for a 63-62 win.
"Kourtney was really good," Kennedy said. "Fifth-year seniors -- that's what they're supposed to do."
The Gators used a 6-0 spurt to take their first lead of the second half, 62-61, with less than two minutes remaining. Chris Walker scored four points in that span.
Jalen Jones made two free throws to put A&M back on top with about a minute remaining. The Gators had a chance to win it, but Alex Murphy's 3-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired.
Roberson, a senior who entered the game averaging just 7.8 points a game, dominated inside, making 8 of 10 shots and finishing with six rebounds. He led the way on a day where the Aggies scored 42 points in the paint.
"When I got in the paint, I just looked to score instead of being hesitant ... and I think we did a good job of finishing," Roberson said.
Texas A&M (17-7, 8-4 SEC) bounced back after a loss to Georgia on Wednesday night.
Eli Carter's 22 points led Florida (12-13, 5-7), which lost its fourth straight game.
"We didn't have enough resistance defensively in the second half," Florida coachBilly Donovan said.
Jones added 16 points and Danuel House had 14 to help the Aggies. Caruso had another well-rounded game for Texas A&M with eight points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
Kennedy said he felt fortunate to escape this game with a win.
"We couldn't put them away and that's a team that's struggled to close out games," Kennedy said.
The Aggies led by eight with 7 1/2 minutes left before five straight points by the Gators, powered by a 3-pointer from Carter, got them within 57-54.
Caruso made a layup for A&M before Walker had a two-handed dunk on the other end to leave Florida down 59-56. Walker then had another highlight when he blocked a layup by Jones seconds later. Walker finished with 11 points and four blocks.
"When his motor is running and he's playing with energy and he gets his athleticism going he really helps us," Donovan said of Walker.
Roberson scored four straight points to extend Texas A&M's lead to 45-37 with about 14 minutes left.
"He got layups," Kennedy said of Roberson. "He positioned himself and our guys got him where all he had to do was finish it and he did. We have an advantage inside with Kourtney when Kourtney is playing aggressive like that."
The Gators then used a 7-0 run, started by a dunk from Chris Walker and capped by five points from Eli Carter, to cut the lead to 45-44.
Tavario Miller scored the first four points of an 8-1 run by A&M that extended the lead to 53-45 with nine minutes left.
The Aggies jumped out to an early 11-4 lead and later extended it with a 7-2 spurt to 27-17. Texas A&M was up by 11 after four quick points by Jalen Jones before Florida closed out the first half with a 9-2 run to get within 32-28 at halftime. Carter scored five points to lead the Gators in that stretch.
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● Texas A&M improved to 17-7 overall and 8-4 in SEC play on Saturday with a 63-62 win over Florida inside Reed Arena … the eight victories in SEC play matches last season's conference win total with six league games remaining in the regular season.
● The win also chomped Florida's lead in the all-time series down to 4-2.
TEAM NOTES
● Solid free throw shooting played a big role in the win as Texas A&M made 11-of-13 shots from the charity stripe (84.6 percent).
● After trailing the entire game, Florida took its only lead of the evening on a tip-in by Chris Walker that made the score 62-61 Gators with 1:47 to play … Jalen Jones regained the Aggie advantage and gave the game its final score by sinking a pair of free throws with 1:12 to play.
● The Aggies dished out 21 assists on 25 made baskets in the contest while committing just eight turnovers.
● Down low, A&M owned a 42-32 advantage in points scored in the paint … transition baskets were also a big factor for the Aggies in the win as they outscored the Gators 11-2 in fast break points.
● The Aggies enjoyed a 34-32 edge in the rebounding column, standing out as the seventh time in their last eight games they've owned an advantage on the glass.
● Texas A&M held a 32-28 halftime lead behind 10 points from Danuel House and Kourtney Roberson.
● The Aggies used the starting lineup combination of Alex Caruso, Jordan Green, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson for the 15th time this season (11-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Senior forward Kourtney Roberson made 8-of-10 field goal attempts in the contest to lead the Aggies with 20 points … the point total was a season high for the Arcadia, La., native and just the second time he's crack the 20-point mark during his A&M career … Roberson's career high is 24 points against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 11, 2013.
● Junior transfers Jalen Jones and Danuel House each enjoyed solid outing, contributing 16 and 14 points, respectively.
● Jones and Roberson were each a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line
● Junior guard Alex Caruso turned in an all-around solid performance, finishing with nine assists, eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block.
● A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 67-56 in his fourth season at Texas A&M and 278-235 in 17 years as a head coach.
UP NEXT
● Texas A&M's three-game homestand concludes Tuesday when, for the second time this season, the Aggies face the LSU Tigers ... Tip-off is slated for 8:00 p.m. at Reed Arena with television coverage on the SEC Network.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
“It was a good home court win. We're very fortunate to win; we couldn't put Florida away. I was real thankful for Jalen Jones for the way he was shooting and getting to the line, that was the big key right there.”
On points in the paint…
“I thought we did a good job getting the ball inside, especially in the first half. In the second half we got in the paint some but didn't get fouled. I also thought we were too unselfish at times, we need to be a little more aggressive. Florida had a lot to do with that, they gave us some problems.”
On getting the win after a tough loss against Georgia…
“Hopefully it takes some pressure off of us because we've been playing so well and our guys here get three home games in a row, three games in a row; it's only one game and it's hard to focus on one game sometimes. I think our guys put a lot of pressure on themselves. Hopefully this is a relief. I keep telling our guys to stop worrying and just play. I thought in the end we kind of tensed up a little bit, hopefully we'll learn from that. Now we only have one game on the road, which happens to be against LSU who's the second best team on paper in our league.”
On the offensive success…
“Some of the assists were in transition, we were very aggressive in transition and got some easy baskets. Against their press I thought we made the extra pass and scored some against their press. To only have eight turnovers after however many we had last game was a big key and we made our free throws. Our guys stepped up and made free throws.”
TEXAS A&M SENIOR KOURTNEY ROBERSON
On scoring in the paint...
“When I got in the paint I just looked to score and if I didn't have a good look I tried to pass it outside. I think Jalen and I do a great job of finishing in the paint.”
On getting the win after a tough loss against Georgia…
“Coach told us at our meeting on Thursday that we needed to bounce back and put the Georgia loss in the past, and we did. I think we did a great job locking in at practice on Friday and we carried it into the game today.”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR JALEN JONES
Going inside against the big guys from Florida…
“Their interior guys are pretty talented. We knew it was going to be a tough matchup. Kourtney and I take pride in scoring in the paint. We put some pressure on them to foul us and create easy baskets for ourselves and that's what we are trying to do tonight.”
On what it means to win this game …
“It was very critical. We took a tough loss against Georgia. We knew we needed to come out and get this big victory against Florida. We didn't take them lightly. They are a very talented team and what they did last year was very impressive. We took it at them and came away with a victory today.”
On the free throws to take the lead…
“It was no pressure. I went up to free throw line knowing I practice it every day. I get my reps before and after practice. So, I just had to step up, take my time, and knock them down.”
FLORIDA HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN
On the last play of the game...
“We definitely should have gotten off a shot. We actually did a really great job executing. I thought we confused them. Two players went to Eli and Dorian was open at the top of the key. We just have to make a play from there. Eli was trying to get the ball back to Dodo and he slipped and the pass didn't get back quickly enough to him. I he probably could have taken more than two seconds. He probably should have taken the shot. After going through it I think he realizes that making the extra pass to Alex wasn't the right decision.”
On the game …
“I thought our guys really battled and fought because I thought A&M had control of the game from start to finish. They were probably a little surprised just as everyone else was when we went up by one with a minute left in the game.”
Coming up short tonight …
“I thought the difference in the game was that we came out with good possession and then we immediately got down eight. We fought our way back to make it a close game but we didn't have enough resistance defensively. In the second half, they were just driving the ball to the basket and we were giving up layups. Through all these mistakes we were still giving ourselves a chance to win. As much as we got dominated around the paint the reality is it was a one-point game in the final five seconds. If we can get better at some of those things I think that will help.”
Team Stats
Game Leaders
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