Texas A&M
0-18-4; SEC
Tennessee
1-08-5; SEC
A&M Drops SEC Opener to Tennessee, 73-63
Dec 29, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The Volunteers (8-5) overwhelmed the Aggies (8-4) in points off turnovers (19-6), while creating 16 A&M turnovers to 10 of their own.
A&M's D.J. Hogg led all scorers with 21 points, and the Aggies' Tonny Trocha-Morelos grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
The teams were tied 29-all at halftime. Hogg scored 13 points over the first 20 minutes, making all three of his 3-point attempts in that span. But he cooled off in the second half right along with his teammates.
Vols point guard Jordan Bone returned to action after missing the last nine games because of a stress fracture in his foot. Bone started two of Tennessee's first three games prior to the injury, averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 assists in that span. On Thursday Bone played eight minutes and missed all three of his field-goal attempts.
The Vols snapped a four-game losing streak to A&M, with all of those games as SEC foes, and eased ahead in the all-time series 6-5. Tennessee also proved to have a much deeper bench than A&M, with the Volunteers reserves outscoring their Aggies counterparts 30-8.
Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
Tennessee 73, Texas A&M 63
Dec. 29, 2016 - Reed Arena (College Station, Texas)
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M dropped its SEC-opening contest to Tennessee 73-63 on Thursday night inside Reed Arena, leaving the Aggies' overall record this season to 8-4.
- The all-time series between the schools now stands at 6-5 in favor of the Volunteers.
TEAM NOTES
- Texas A&M's offense went cold in the contest, matching its fewest points in a game and lowest shooting percentage of the season (.344).
- The Aggies were also guilty of a season-high 16 turnovers to go along with a season-low 10 assists.
- Conversely, Tennessee shot .397 (23-of-58) against the Aggie defense while being charged with just 10 turnovers.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of JC Hampton, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Tonny Trocha-Morelos and Tyler Davis for the 12th time this season (8-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Sophomore DJ Hogg finished with 21 points against the Volunteers, giving the Plano, Texas, native the third 20-point game of his career.
- Junior Tonny Trocha-Morelos corralled 12 rebounds on the night, a career-high and the most by an Aggie this season.
- Rookie Robert Williams collected his team-leading 29th blocked shot and has now collected a swat in all 12 games this season to post the longest streak by an Aggie since Bryan Davis had a 17-game block streak from Nov. 29, 2009 to Feb. 3, 2010.
- Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy fell to 107-74 in his sixth season at Texas A&M and 318-253 in 19 seasons as head coach.
UP NEXT
- Texas A&M's first road trip of league play is on tap when the Aggies' venture to Lexington, Ky., to face Kentucky inside Rupp Arena ... the game is slated to be broadcast on ESPN.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
"Tennessee came in here aggressive and really tried to attack us and physically out play us. They did a much better job of bothering us than anybody we played. We knew it was coming, but unfortunately we did not handle it well. In practice, we don't imitate that kind of pressure, that kind of athleticism. I have to do a better job of trying to generate our intensity on both ends of the floor. Our bench, we have to get more out of them at practice, and we have to get more out of our starters. Our starters aren't guys coming off the bench. You are a guy that people are going to attack. They are coming after you. We did not handle that well. Nobody has done that to us except for Virginia Tech in the first half and Arizona at some moments. We could not run our offense against their athleticism and pressure."
On low shooting percentage…
"We got the ball inside. We got our post guy against a 6'2" guard a number of times, but when we did get it inside, we turned it over some. They were just more physical than us. I thought them playing ten, eleven guys had some wear and tear on us in the second half. Their depth was a factor."
On the effort level of the Aggies...
"Not where I wanted it to be. This is our toughest part of the schedule. People may not respect Tennessee, but I do because of their athleticism and I know how well-coached they are. Kentucky and South Carolina on the road are pressure teams that are guard-oriented and that gives us problems. Until we can solve that against those type of teams, we are going to have a hard time beating those teams. We will solve it. We will figure it out. I hate to keep saying this, but our games expose us more than our practice exposes us. That is just the reality of it."
On preparing for remainder of the season...
"We have seventeen league games left. It is a long season and I knew we were going to have to go through some of this with our team, with our inexperience. We have one starter back from last year's team, so we have four guys trying to adjust and adapt. We got punched in the face, and we will see how we handle that. It is not going to get any easier in Lexington on Tuesday night. We have been telling them that we have a target on our back. Whoever is coming in here is excited to play. People come to watch. When people come to watch, you have to be prepared and ready to go. You do it in practice. We have to get better in practice, and I have to get them better in practice. It's hard when you don't have anybody to put in at times."
TEXAS A&M SOPHOMORE FORWARD DJ HOGG
On second half…
"They started hitting shots, our effort for some reason went down. They started pushing up and getting lay-ups. We just weren't playing how we were in the first half, as far as intensity and toughness. When you add them hitting shots on top of that, it's how the game opened up. "
On Tyler Davis...
"I don't know if it was them slowing him down, or himself not finishing when he normally does. Maybe a little contact here and there that the refs missed, I don't know. I think he's very capable. I don't really think it was them slowing him down. It was more himself. They were denying passing lanes, so it was a little tougher for us to get it to the spots we normally do to feed him where he has easier lay-ups. "
On scoring 21 points...
"Especially (after) the games I've struggled, I felt a lot better tonight, but at the end of it, a win is more important than me playing good. We came up short."
On falling in the opener...
"It's really tough because it's the first SEC game at home, so that wasn't good to start off. We're going to bounce back. We have Kentucky next. We're all really focused on that and looking forward to that."
TEXAS A&M SOPHOMORE GUARD ADMON GILDER
On momentum swings…
"We had moments where we made the tougher play, but they came out and played tougher than us and denied us more. We weren't able to get the ball in certain places, and so we got outside of ourselves and doing things we're not accustomed to doing. I think we just got out-toughed and didn't get the win today."
On size and effort of Tennessee...
"They're not big, but they play hard for 40 minutes. They're coached by Rick Barnes, a good coach. I think them playing harder than us helped them out in this game."
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH RICK BARNES
Opening statement...
"It was obviously a great win for us. I thought it was really a great effort by a lot of different guys.. We have so much respect for Texas A&M and Coach Kennedy and his team. They just do so many things that are hard to defend. We had to be as scrappy as we could be defensively. Second half I thought was a big key when our guards started rebounding to get down the floor so we could run. We really wanted to run as much as we could run. I thought Kyle Alexander came up big with some blocks. Grant Williams just continues to get better and better. We had to fight through some foul trouble, but overall our guys stayed in it and were able to get a win.
On slowing down Tyler Davis...
"He demands so much respect because he is such a great position player. He really knows how to move his feet in there and get posted deep. As much as we could, we just didn't want to let him ride us up the lane. We were going to come at him from different angles. I thought our guys did a good job with our scouting report too. They knew we were going to have to come in and trap him. Obviously, we weren't very good to start the game offensively, but that had a lot to do with the way they played us. We were reluctant to shoot the ball, which we shouldn't be. He brings as lot of attention, but we wanted to pressure as much as we could."
On defense…
"I simply said that we had to be better than we were a year ago, which isn't saying a lot. I thought we defended, but there are still levels that we have to get better. We wanted to get out and run and that was a big part of it. Our perimeter defense has gotten better, which I think has helped our post guys because everyone knows that we are the smallest team in the league. Tonight I thought we made [up for it] with a real spirit about trying to do what we asked them to do. Something we have to build on."
On playing in Texas again…
"It is tough playing here because I have so much respect for Billy Kennedy. I love him. He is one of the finest people and a terrific coach. It is always hard to coach against friends. I had some people come over. I love the state of Texas. I have always had great respect for this university and the people here. I am surprised how much it has continued to grow. The people here have always been so good. They want to win like everybody, but I feel good right now.
