Texas A&M
3-0
Oklahoma State
3-1
No. 16 Basketball Routs Oklahoma State in Legends Classic
Nov 20, 2017 | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK (AP)--Robert Williams had 11 points, 11 rebounds and a handful of alley-oop dunks to help No. 16 Texas A&M beat Oklahoma State 72-55 in the first game of the 2017 Progressive Legends Classic on Monday night.
Williams added three steals and two blocks for the Aggies (3-0).
DJ Hogg led all scorers with 18 points. Tonny Trocha-Morelos finished with 12 points and Admon Gilder had 10.
The loss was the first of the season for Oklahoma State (3-1). Brandon Averette led the Cowboys with 10.
The Aggies took a 39-22 lead into halftime, thanks to Williams and a 25-7 run over the final eight minutes of the half. Williams checked in five minutes into the game and scored nine points in the first half, eight on alley-oops.
Texas A&M extended the lead to 22 after Gilder knocked down a jumper 1:22 into the second half. Oklahoma State outscored the Aggies 18-8 in the next 8:03 to cut the deficit to 52-42.
Just as it looked as if Oklahoma State would seriously challenge Texas A&M, the Aggies had a 12-3 run to push their advantage to 64-45 and essentially decided the outcome. The stretch was punctuated by Gilder's 3-point baskets on consecutive possessions.
"It's a blessing. Fun to be back out there with my team" - @rob_williamsIII #DoMore #12thMan pic.twitter.com/axsU2LD9D4
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) November 21, 2017
"My confidence is high, so I'm gonna keep shooting" - @Dj_hogg1#DoMore #12thMan pic.twitter.com/PgaBZcetV0
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) November 21, 2017
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- No. 16 Texas A&M (3-0) won its third straight game to begin the 2017-18 season Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn during the Progressive Legends Classic, defeating previously unbeaten Oklahoma State 72-55.
- The all-time series between the schools now stands at 31-18 in favor of the Cowboys … Texas A&M, however, has won five of its last six meetings vs. OSU.
TEAM NOTES
- The 55 points scored by the Cowboys as well as their 29.9 field goal percentage were each the lowest by an Aggie opponent this season.
- The Aggies closed the first half on an 18-4 run to take control of the game and go to the intermission leading 39-22 … A&M led by as many as 24 in the contest.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Duane Wilson, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Tonny Trocha-Morelos and Tyler Davis for the second time this season (2-0).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Junior forward DJ Hogg paced the Aggies in scoring for the second straight contest, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field … Hogg was 4-of-7 from 3-point range and is now shooting 65.0 from long distance through three games this season.
- Sophomore forward Robert Williams returned to the court for the Aggies after missing the season's first two games due to suspension … the Oil City, La., native recorded his 12th career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds … Williams also two blocked shots to extend his school-record blocked shot streak to 32, each contest of his carded collegiate career.
- Junior guard Admon Gilder hit double-digit scoring for the third consecutive game to begin the season, finishing with 10 points … Senior Tonny Trocha-Morelos, meanwhile, chipped in 12 points during the win.
- Billy Kennedy is now 118-85 during his seven-year tenure at Texas A&M and 329-264 in 20 seasons as a head coach.
UP NEXT
- Texas A&M advances to the title game of the 2017 Progressive Legends Classic, where it will face either Penn State or Pitt on Tuesday at 5 p.m. (CT) inside the Barclays Center.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy KennedyOn the game: "I thought we did a good job handling their pressure, especially in the first half. We had, I think, 10 or 11 assists and when we share the ball like that and play the defense we're capable of playing, we're a tough team to beat. We have a lot of depth, a lot of weapons, and fortunately our unselfishness was a big part of us winning the game against a good Oklahoma State team."
What can you do better? "There are two things. We turned the ball over way too many times. We had 19 turnovers and 12 by our guards. The second is defensive rebounding. They had 17 offensive rebounds and some of that had to do with our defense being really good and they missed a lot of shots, but there's going to be more opportunities for them to rebound, but I think we need to be a better defensive rebounding team and take care of the ball."
On Tonny Trocha-Morelos: "Ton does so many things for us, the intangible things defensively and offensively, his ability to make a three and make the extra pass. He does a lot of good things for us and he did a really good job on the ball screen in the second half."
Texas A&M Forward Robert Williams
Did you feel a hesitation by OSU to drive the lane when you were in the game? "Yes definitely. I feel like I play (with) a big presence…I do my best, not even to block, but to just contest and let you know - feel my presence and let them know that I'm here, so I definitely feel that once they came in a couple of times they knew what they were facing."
Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Boynton
On the game: "Texas A&M is a really good team first and foremost and credit to them, I don't know if that was their best game, but they played pretty well. Obviously, we didn't shoot the ball very well and they took advantage of that…They were just better than us today and the good thing about this setup is we get to bounce back tomorrow, pretty quick turnaround, but we've got to own the night that we were just beat and we have to get better tomorrow."
On Texas A&M's first half offensive run: "A lot of their run was – we had some breakdowns defensively that we tried to execute from a schematic standpoint, but we just didn't execute and we've got to be better. We have to grow in that area. For the most part, we were guarding them pretty well for most of the half. Our defense was good enough. I disagree with my players when they say their offense didn't affect their mentality because I do think it affected them on the defensive end. You miss you're first one you're okay, but as you continue to miss shots I think psychologically they started to let up on the defensive end. You can't do that with a team like Texas A&M who has so many weapons. You have to continue to be mentally tough enough to sit down and guard when you aren't making shots."
