Men's Basketball Wins SEC Championship

Saturday, March 5

College Station

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

13-524-7; SEC

Vanderbilt

11-719-12; SEC

Vanderbilt

Texas A&M

Mar 05, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Texas A&M can claim something it hasn't been able to in 30 years: a regular-season conference championship.

"I'm just at a loss for words," senior Jalen Jones said following the No. 20 Aggies' 76-67 victory over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale.

He wasn't at a loss for points, however, as he scored 17 points and A&M clinched the No. 1 seed in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Freshmen Tyler Davis added 16 for the Aggies (24-7, 13-5 SEC), who had not won a conference crown since winning the Southwest Conference title in 1986. They captured their share of the SEC title, along with Kentucky, in their fourth season in the league.

"It's just overwhelming right now, all the adversity we faced during conference and all the hard work that we put in during the summer," Jones said. "To win the conference championship feels great, and we've got to continue to build on this and get other championships as well."

Wade Baldwin IV and Damian Jones each scored 11 points for Vanderbilt (19-12, 11-7 SEC). Jones played only 19 minutes after getting in foul trouble.

The Aggies dominated the Commodores in points in the paint (40-22), points off turnovers (27-14) and fast-break points (8-0).

"I'm thankful to be a part of such a special run, and I'm proud of our guys," A&M fifth-year coach Billy Kennedy said. "We did it the way that I wanted to do it, with toughness and defense."

The Aggies and Commodores started slowly, and the game was tied at 12 with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The offenses picked up the pace over the next eight minutes, and Vanderbilt led 30-29 with 3:46 remaining in the half.

But the Aggies, buoyed by a 3-pointer from freshman D.J. Hogg, closed out the first-half scoring on a 10-2 run to take a 39-32 lead at the break. A&M then kept Vanderbilt at arms' length the remainder of the game, increasing its lead to as many as 20 points about midway through the second half.

The Aggies defined streakiness this season, winning their first seven league games, losing their next five and winning their last six to close out the regular season. In this one, A&M avenged a 77-60 loss at Vanderbilt on Feb. 4, the Aggies' worst loss of the season.

"We knew this was going to be tough, and I was really proud of our guys for hanging in there and fighting," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said of playing in such an emotional environment. "We didn't get it done. We tried hard, our guys played hard, we just got outplayed."

Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
#20 Texas A&M 76, Vanderbilt 67
March 5, 2016 ? Reed Arena (College Station, Texas)

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
? Texas A&M clinched its first conference championship in 30 years on Saturday, defeating Vanderbilt 76-67 in front of 12,007 fans at Reed Arena … The win gives A&M a share of the 2016 SEC Championship alongside Kentucky, which also finished SEC play at 13-5.
? Texas A&M's 24 wins during the regular season are the second most in program history, trailing only the 2006-07 squad's 25 regular-season victories.
? The Aggies finished the regular season with a 24-7 record and a 13-5 mark in SEC play … They will be the No. 1 seed at next week's SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
? The all-time series now stands at 5-2 in favor of the Commodores.

TEAM NOTES
? Texas A&M committed only seven turnovers in the contest, compared to 15 for the visiting Commodores … The disparity led to a 27-14 A&M advantage in points-off-turnovers.
? The Aggies also enjoyed a 36-33 edge in rebounding, including 17 boards on the offensive glass … A&M also owned a 40-22 advantage in points in the paint.
? Texas A&M used the starting combination of Anthony Collins, Alex Caruso, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Tyler Davis for the 17^th time this season (13-4).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
? Senior Jalen Jones collected his 15^th collegiate double-double and fourth this season with a 17-point, 11-rebound performance … The Dallas native was 6-of-14 from the field and pulled down six offensive boards.
? Joining Jones in double-digit scoring were freshman Tyler Davis, who also added three blocked shots to his 16 points, and senior Danuel House, who finished with 11 points.
? Four-year letterwinner Alex Caruso, dished out a game-high eight assists while committing just one turnover.
? Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 95-68 in his fifth season at Texas A&M and 306-247 in 18 seasons as head coach.

UP NEXT
? The Aggies are Nashville-bound for the 2016 SEC Tournament which will be held at Bridgestone Arena March 9-13 … Texas A&M will be the No. 1 seed in the event with a double-bye that will see the Aggies play their first game at the tournament on Friday, March 11.

Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Quotes
# 20 Texas A&M 76, Vanderbilt 67
Mar. 5, 2016 ? Reed Arena

BILLY KENNEDY, TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"Obviously we're really thankful to win a championship. It's been something we talked about this year and even right after I got the job. I want to thank Bill Byrne, Eric Hyman, and Scott [Woodward], the support has been tremendous in the administration and a lot of our loyal supporters. I'm thankful to be a part of such a special run, and I'm proud of our guys. We did it the way that I wanted to do it, with toughness and defense. I thought that was pretty good game against a really good Vanderbilt team."

On thoughts cutting down the net…
"I was thinking about the next game. Just thankful and God has truly blessed us. We just embrace it and we have more games. That's the job of a coach is to worry about what's next."

On senior day…
"For the four seniors and [Kyle] Dobbins and those guys, I'm really happy for them. They're all good players. They've had to sacrifice some and adapt to freshmen. We really did a good job the last couple of weeks of getting Tyler Davis more involved. Those seniors are responsible for that. I'm proud of Anthony Collins. He set the tone coming out being aggressive and I thought that was big in this game."

On Damian Jones fouling out…
"We weren't lucky. We took the ball right at him. Tyler [Davis] was aggressive. That was our whole game plan, was to switch ball screens and see if they were going to attack us inside. Their first foul set the tone for the game."

On Alex Caruso's breakaway dunk…
"That was huge. That's what he's done throughout, special moments at the right time and place, goes and makes a play to solidify the game. I wasn't over there resting easy. Vanderbilt is a dangerous team when you can shoot the ball like they do. They're always a threat."

On the tone going into the game…
"I thought we would win. We've been really good here. We haven't had a bad game. We've won every big game this year. That's a product of going through some grind last year and losing to Alabama at home. [Alex] Caruso and those guys had to go through that. It doesn't happen by accident, you have to go through some stuff sometimes and if you have good character and toughness, you can get through it. I thought it was a credit to those seniors, setting the tone. Our freshmen, they're not scared. They've won state championships and they've been good for us all year."

ALEX CARUSO, TEXAS A&M SENIOR GUARD
On winning the SEC Championship…
"This is pretty good, enjoying it with these guys and the rest of the team, coaching staff, all the fans. I mean this is what we worked for during the summer, this is what we talked about and being able to do it is pretty special."

On steals and dunks…
"It was weird, I was just thinking about the game and thinking somehow I feel like I'm going to get a run through and a dunk, like it's just like it's supposed to happen. Last game we're in Reed and it just adds to the storybook ending that we're writing this year."

On being a ball boy for the Aggies…
"When I was a ball boy, I was thinking about man, these dudes are like gods, like there's no way I'm going to be that big, I'm going to be that cool, like be able to play basketball like that. I don't even think in high school up until my senior year when I was coming to A&M, I mean I didn't envision winning the championship. I was like alright I'm going to go play basketball at A&M, like that's going to be cool. Really until I got here and until my mentality focused and these guys came in and we realized that we had the pieces. There was a hope, to go out and play hard every game but there wasn't a sincere belief that we could win and do something with this program. I think the last two years have changed my mind, and changed a lot of people's minds about it."

DANUEL HOUSE, TEXAS A&M SENIOR GUARD
On freshmen effort…
"I think everybody had some energy in there and they didn't want us to go out without a bang and then not only that, they could be champs too. They saw that as beneficial for us and them."

On game plan to get Damian Jones into foul trouble…
"We just play. I don't think there was a game plan. We just went out there, we saw opportunities. If he reached, coach told us to go up strong because he tries to block a lot of shots so if we go up strong and power through and finish, maybe we'll get a call."

On transfer student-athletes on the team…
"I mean we came in, they welcomed us in. Normally some transfers struggle, they took time and effort out to help us, to show us around. From the classroom to the offensive set and then they improvised with us. They made us feel so comfortable and helped us increase our game so this is a big up to the coaching staff, the academic advisors, Coach Davis, a lot of people, Quiz [SID Adam Quisenberry], everyone. Everyone who helped us just to come in and fit in like we started here from day one, we tip our hats off to them because they didn't have to do that."

JALEN JONES, TEXAS A&M SENIOR GUARD/FORWARD
On what he's learned from previous games…
"Well we're just a lot more locked in. I think we were top 10 in the country, you know we were kind of feeling ourselves a little bit and so we had to get humble. We got super humble, five L's, but we just had to be more locked in. We wanted revenge and we came out from the jump and tried to make a statement but they kept battling, they kept fighting. You've got to give a lot of credit to those guys, just happy we came out the victory but we were a lot more locked in this game."

On his feelings after the win…
"I'm just lost for words. It's just overwhelming right now, all the adversity we faced during conference and all the hard work that we put in during the summer. I look back to when we were overseas, how we were able to bond together, figure out each other's roles when we were over there. It just all gelled together at the right time and to win the conference championship feels great right now and we've got to continue to build on this and get other championships as well."

KEVIN STALLINGS, VANDERBILT HEAD COACH
On his thoughts on the game…
"Yeah you know and it wasn't any pressure by them, I mean they play defense much like we do in terms of being packed in and that sort of thing. We were just careless and tried to force it in some, you know they did some things different defensively, nothing that we hadn't seen but in the first half, I just didn't think we took good enough care of the ball. We didn't rebound well enough in the second part of the first half, so you've got to give them credit. They've got a very good team. We knew this was going to be tough, I was really proud of our guys for hanging in there and fighting so we didn't get it done. We wanted to, we didn't. We tried hard, our guys played hard, we just got outplayed today."