No. 7 Basketball Downs Prairie View A&M, 73-53

Saturday, December 9

College Station

3:30 p.m.

Texas A&M

8-1

Prairie View A&M

2-7

Prairie View A&M

Texas A&M

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Dec 09, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said it's that time of year to guard against natural comforts -- aka playing at home against an allegedly lesser opponent.

"Sometimes those are hard games on the coaches," Kennedy said. "You know how hard it is to motivate your guys and get them ready to play. You know that you're capable of losing to some of those teams that you play."

The No. 7 Aggies appeared capable of losing to Prairie View A&M early in the second half on Saturday, before finally waking up and walking away with a 73-53 victory.

The Aggies (8-1) led 44-40 5 minutes into the second half before scoring the next 18 points over a 7-minute span to put away the game against the outmanned Panthers (2-7).

"They came out in the second half and showed why they're a Top 10 team," Panthers coach Byron Smith said of the Aggies. "I expect to see them make a long run in the (NCAA Tournament)."

A&M forward Robert Williams far outpaced everyone else on the court with 16 rebounds, which tied a career-high in his two seasons at A&M. On the downside for the Aggies Williams also had a game-high five turnovers, and the Aggies had seven more miscues (17-10) than the Panthers.

Zachary Hamilton led the Panthers with a game-high 18 points and Gary Blackston followed with 17.

Both teams were bad from long range, as the Aggies made 5 of 18 3-point attempts (28 percent) and the Panthers made 3 of 15 (20 percent). Smith compared the wildly athletic Williams to former NBA standout Antonio McDyess.

"I've heard stories about him, but that's a little before my time," Williams said in response. "From what I hear, that's an honor."

Postgame Notes

RECORDS / SERIES NOTES

No. 7 Texas A&M improved to 8-1 on the season with a 73-53 win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday afternoon inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies now lead the all-time series with PVAMU 13-0.

TEAM NOTES

Texas A&M owned a 48-34 edge in the rebounding column, leading to a 20-6 Aggie advantage in second chance points … the A&M bench also outscored their Panther counterparts 26-1.
A&M took control of the game with a game with a 12-0 run that forced a PVAMU timeout with 11:53 to play and the Aggies leading 56-40 … A&M also scored the six points following the break to make it an 18-0 spurt leaving the score 62-40 A&M.
The Aggie defense held the Panthers without a field goal for a stretch of 7:25 before a layup at the 8:05 mark snapped the 18-0 Aggie run.
The Aggie took a 37-29 lead into the intermission, led by 10 first-half points from DJ Hogg.
Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Duane Wilson, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Robert Williams and Tyler Davis for the fourth time this season (3-1).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Junior Tyler Davis became the 26^th member of Texas A&M's 500-Rebound Club, pulling down five boards in the contest to leave him with 503 for his three-year career.
Senior Tonny Trocha-Morelos enjoyed a solid performance, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and no turnovers.
Juniors Admon Gilder and DJ Hogg each hit double-digit scoring for the Aggies, finishing with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Sophomore Robert Williams pulled down a career-high-tying 16 rebounds in the contest, while contributing eight points on 4-of-5 shooting … the Oil City, La., native also collected four blocks to extend his nation-leading blocked shot streak to 38 games.
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy improved to 123-86 during his seven-year tenure at Texas A&M and 334-265 in 20 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT

The Aggies continue their homestand at Reed Arena when they host Savannah State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ... the game will be available digitally on SEC Network PLUS.

Postgame Quotes

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
"We figured it out [but] Prairie View's size and quickness gave us some problems in the first half, we were chasing them around a lot. You got to give Prairie View a lot of credit, they came in here with discipline offensively. They put the ball on the floor and we struggled guarding the dribble against them. The zone is which separated us in the second half, but that was the big key."

On settling down…
"We started running our offense a little bit better. We didn't turn the ball over to them, thought we had some unforced turnovers especially in the first half. We had 11 turnovers in the first half and that is too many. But I thought (Prairie View's) quickness and athleticism gave us some problems. You have to give them credit, they played a tough schedule on the road and they came in here and fought with great energy and effort. I thought we could of have guarded them a little bit better."

On transition defense…
"Transition defense was off of turnovers. We took some quick shots early, our guard play could of have been better with decision making and it's something that will need to continue to get better."

On Tyler Davis…
"Tyler has played a lot of minutes for us and I thought I was playing two bigs a lot. When we were able to go small at times. We wanted to look at that lineup some. [Gave us] the ability to rest Tyler and play some of the other guys a little more minutes and play small"

TEXAS A&M SENIOR CENTER TONNY TROCHA-MORELOS
On switching to a zone defense…
"It was a good read from Coach Kennedy. We emphasized the shooter so we had to talk on defense and tell everybody where the shooters are. He helped us slow it down and gave us a little break to breathe and focus on offense too."

On offensive performance the first half…
"One of the things that we didn't do well was take care of the ball. They took advantage of that. They're a good team. We did a better job in the second half of taking care of the ball."

TEXAS A&M SOPHOMORE FORWARD ROBERT WILLIAMS
On comparison to Antonio McDyess…
"I've heard stories about him, but that's a little before my time. I don't really know that much about him but I've heard stories about him from my dad. From what I've heard, it's an honor."

On the slow start…
"A lack of communication. Not communicating as much as well as the coaches wanted us to. We knew what was expected of us but our energy wasn't matching, so we have to pick that up."

On the road-heavy early schedule…
"From our perspective I love tough away games. Those are games that we live for, we prepare for. We just have to go out and play each game like we're playing Kansas, Kentucky, or Arizona. That's what we tried to do."

TEXAS A&M PRAIRIE VIEW HEAD COACH BRYON SMITH
On what happened differently in 2nd half…
"I think you just said it; No. 7 is a lucky number. They are number seven in the country and it is a good basketball team. They seemed a little bit like clustered and I thought they would've come out a little more strongly. Coach Kennedy was an excellent coach and I am sure he got after them pretty good at halftime. They came out after the second half time and I think they showed why they are one of the top ten teams. I expect to see this team [TAMU] make a long run in the tournament. My prediction is they are a Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, or even Final Four type teams with the talent they have. Great ball club and they showed why they are where they are right now."

On turnovers PVAMU winning turnover battle…
"It was very encouraging. Again, I thought that some of the turnovers they had were probably a little unforced. Maybe it was just trying to make a perfect play instead of the right play. But we will take it; you know building blocks for us. Obviously, the rebounding kind of pounded us a little bit. If we want to lose a rebound in battle we don't want it to be in double digits. So that is a bit of a downer but we will move forward and try to be better for our next opponent."

On A&M's height…
"It's tough. They are going to pose a lot of problems for any team that they face because not only do they have size but their guys are skilled. I mean Tyler Davis probably has as good of footwork, even the best footwork in the country for a post player. I think Robert Williams needs to get the credit he deserved. Obviously he is a very athletic guy. A young Antonio McDyess, if you will, is what I like to compare him to. I can they are doing a great job developing him. He has come along, he is threat from 15 feet, and he has got pretty good hands. He has become a much improved passer. Tonny Trocha-Morelos comes off the bench and he can probably stomp 80, 75 percent of the teams in the country. I had no idea DJ Hogg was that big. I mean he is like a 5-man playing out on the perimeter. Those guys are very skilled guys and can make the passes and they do a really good job on recognizing on when the guys open in the post. I think the sky's the limit for the aggies this year."