Davis Leads Aggies Past Eagles, 76-53

Monday, November 14

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

2-0

American

0-2

American

Texas A&M

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Nov 14, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box: A&M 76, AU 53 (PDF)Photos Tyler Davis Interview

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Tyler Davis scored 17 points and D.J. Hogg added 12 as Texas A&M overwhelmed American for a 76-53 victory on Monday night.

For the second consecutive game against an undersized opponent, the Aggies dominated inside, outscoring the Eagles 44-22 in the paint.

Hogg added a game-high nine rebounds, and A&M freshman forward Robert Williams added 10 points and two blocks in only his second game. Williams now has seven blocks on the season.

Delante Jones led American with 18 points and Sa'eed Nelson followed with 12.

The Aggies led 20-15 midway through the first half when they broke it open. Davis and Hogg combined to make 9 of 13 field goals in the first half in staking A&M to a 41-20 lead at the break.

The Aggies had dominated Northwestern State 42-8 in points in the paint in their Friday opener, a 72-44 victory over the Demons.

Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 76, American 53
Nov. 14, 2016 ? Reed Arena

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M won its second consecutive contest to start the 2016-17 season Monday night at Reed Arena, defeating American 76-53.
- A&M now leads the all-time series with American 1-0 as the game stood out as the first meeting between the schools on the hardwood.

TEAM NOTES
- The Aggies shot a blistering 53.6 percent from the floor (30-for-56), including a 6-for-14 mark (42.9 percent) from 3-point range.
- After holding Northwestern State to just 27.9 percent shooting on Friday during the season opener, the A&M defense was again solid Monday night and held the Eagles to just 35 percent shooting from the floor (21-of-60).
- The Aggies outrebounded their opponent for a second straight contest (35-33) with all 11 A&M players who got into the game recording at least one board.
- A&M took a 41-20 lead into the intermission as freshman Eric Villa sank a buzzer beater from approximately 75 feet to close out the opening half.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of JC Hampton, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Tonny Trocha-Morelos and Tyler Davis for the second time this season (2-0).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Sophomore Tyler Davis paced the Aggies in scoring for a second straight game, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting … The Dallas native also converted 5-of-6 attempts from the free throw line.
- Freshman Robert Williams reached double-digit scoring for this first time in his Aggie career, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while adding two assists, two rebounds and two blocks.
- Both Admon Gilder and DJ Hogg notched career high in assists (Gilder-5, Hogg-4) while Hogg also hit a personal-best and led the Aggies with nine rebounds to go along with his 12 points.
- Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy improved to 101-70 in his sixth season at Texas A&M and 312-249 in 19 seasons as head coach.

UP NEXT
- The Aggies' three-game homestand to begin the season concludes Friday when they host USC at 6 p.m. inside Reed Arena. The game will be nationally televised on SEC Network.

American Head Coach Mike Brennan
Opening Statement…
"They are a really good team. Big, talented, good at what they do, well coached, solid. We knew it was going to be a huge challenge. We are young. I thought we didn't come out necessarily to compete in the first half, but I thought a few guys did a good job in the second half of competing."

On Mark Gasperini's performance…
"Of course, he had his hands full with Dodd at Maryland but Maryland is more guard oriented and tonight it's like they are trying to throw it into those guys and he's terrific. Physical, really good player, knows angles. Mark had to work relentlessly tonight and for the most part he did as much as we could ask at this point."

On scoring opportunities for American…
"We got some good drives. It's a young team and I think that they are just figuring out where their scoring opportunities are coming from. We are asking a lot, especially of Mark and Sa'eed who are going to play a lot so I thought they figured it out a little more in the second half. And Delante as well, he's only a sophomore and we are asking a lot of him and treating him like an upperclassman. He played a lot of minutes last year and he's going to do a lot for us this year."

Senior Forward Tavario Miller
On Texas A&M's frontcourt…
"It's really good. In previous years the frontcourt didn't get the ball as much, but this year, coach made a decision to run the offense through us. I think the frontcourt guys do a really good job of handling pressure and opening the court for the backcourt guys.

On Robert Williams…
"I've been really impressed with Robert. He does a lot for us. He's really active guy -blocked shots, run the court well, knock down open shots, finish around the goal -
He's really doing a lot for a freshman."

Sophomore Guard DJ Hogg
On Texas A&M backcourt…
"I think we're doing pretty solid. People question us but I think we play hard. We play together. Playing with the bigs, they make it easier on us. They give us open shots because people have to dig in. I think we're doing pretty good."

On JC Hampton's presence on the team…
"JC is a really cool dude. We're all real close with him. We listen to him.
He's a fifth-year senior so he knows what it's like to play at this level for a long time. He's just learning the system. We have a new system this year, we're getting used to it. Mainly just playing together, listening to each other, and we go from there."

"We played a lot of open gym over the summer so we've gotten used to each other's games. JC is definitely a pass-first point guard. He's always looking for us. We do the same when we split and his man helps, we kick it out to him. He's ready to shoot He shoots with confidence, and we tell him we want him to shoot. It's good teamwork."

Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Kennedy
Opening Statement…
"I thought we had a really good win against a team I have a lot of respect for. I watched them against Maryland. I was really concerned how about how we would play against that style of play. Our guys bought it defensively and our length and our size in the paint gave them problems."

On Texas A&M's frontcourt…
"The frontcourt size and the length that we have gives us a chance to sometimes put out our best offensive players on the floor at the same time. We've got good size at every position and to get those six or seven of those guys out on the floor we need to be able to protect on defense. It helps Tyler (Davis). We don't want to rest on defense but it keeps him out of foul trouble. I think that's something that could be a concern later down the line."

On Robert Williams…
"He's a capable starter. We've got a couple of guys that are capable starters. He's a good player, and he's only going to get better every game. He puts pressure on our guys being good in practice every day. Iron sharpens iron, so we have to keep those guys going hard. You get a shot off against him in practice, there's a chance you're going to get a shot off in the game against an opponent."

On facing USC…
"Hopefully Friday we'll have all of our students out. We'll need everyone against USC. This is a team with three starters back, with some high school All-Americans who are upperclassmen, an NCAA Tournament team. We're going to have to play extremely well. We need a home-court advantage like it's been for us in the past. For our team, it will be a good test for us."