Thursday, February 23
College Station
8:00 PM
Texas A&M
19-9, 9-6SEC
64
vs
80
South Carolina
23-4, 13-2SEC
1
2
3
4
F
South Carolina
19
22
19
20
80
Texas A&M
18
17
6
23
64
Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics
Knox Breaks Single-Season Assist Record, But Aggies Fall To No. 7 South Carolina
Feb 23, 2017 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION- Curtyce Knox broke the Texas A&M single-season assist record, but the Aggies fell 80-64 to No. 7 South Carolina in a women's basketball game at Reed Arena on Thursday.
Knox, a redshirt senior in her first year as a full-time starter, now has 266 assists on the season in 28 games. Jordan Jones, whose record Knox surpassed tonight, needed 36 games to post the previous record of 261 in 2013-14.
The Aggies (19-9, 9-6 SEC) traded leads with the Gamecocks (23-4, 13-2 SEC) 12 times in the first half, but South Carolina closed the second quarter on a 14-5 run to take a 41-35 halftime lead.
Knox and Anriel Howard each had a double-double for the Aggies, with Knox posting a team-high 19 points and 10 assists. Howard had 16 points and 13 rebounds, moving up to fourth on Texas A&M's single-season rebound list.
Khaalia Hillsman added 16 points and Danni Williams had 12.
A'ja Wilson led the Gamecocks with 21 points.
The Aggies conclude the regular season on Sunday, February 26 at 4 p.m. at Ole Miss. The Aggies start the SEC Tournament in the Second Round on Thursday, March 2 in Greenville, S.C.
QUICKIE NOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Thoughts on the game...
"With the stat sheet you can basically write the story without any comment form me. It's pretty obvious. They shot well. We tried our 2-3 zone and we even tried man-to-man a little at the end. They played like a top-5 team. They played a lot better than Mississippi State did when they were in here on Sunday. Give them a lot of credit playing without (Alaina) Coates, the best 5-player in the league. That's what this league is all about. Are we going to be good enough to play with the big boys in this league? We are one of those teams. It doesn't matter that we've lost three games in a row. In 2013, we lost our last three games before the conference tournament and went in and won the tournament. What we have to do is not worry about the conference tournament and get our confidence up. We played two top teams here and both teams were a little bit better than us but one game we could have won."
On the difference...
"Our guards quit scoring, and in the first quarter our post players were missing the easy stuff. So we traded off again, but tonight is about South Carolina. This is one of the first games all year where we just got outclassed. I'm not that down on my team I'm just high on South Carolina. They've earned everything they've got."
Texas A&M Senior Guard Curtyce Knox
On the Texas A&M offense…
"I just think that the guards on our team came out really aggressive at the beginning of the game. I think if we did that throughout the rest of the three quarters then the outcome would have been better. I think we could have attacked and shot the ball more."
On the South Carolina press…
"We weren't ready for it, we weren't expecting it, and I take fault for that, I should have attacked the post player and made something happen."
On breaking Jordan Jones' single-season assist record…
"It means a lot to me, I give all the credit to my teammates like I always do. If they don't make the shots then I can't make the assist."
South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley
Opening Statement...
"We pressed them because we wanted to speed up the tempo. We know they are a team that's well-coached. We didn't want to give them an opportunity to pick our defense apart. We tried to see if we could force them to turn it over and to play faster so they couldn't get the play call from the bench. You have to create an edge especially when you're facing a team like Texas A&M"
Knox, a redshirt senior in her first year as a full-time starter, now has 266 assists on the season in 28 games. Jordan Jones, whose record Knox surpassed tonight, needed 36 games to post the previous record of 261 in 2013-14.
The Aggies (19-9, 9-6 SEC) traded leads with the Gamecocks (23-4, 13-2 SEC) 12 times in the first half, but South Carolina closed the second quarter on a 14-5 run to take a 41-35 halftime lead.
Knox and Anriel Howard each had a double-double for the Aggies, with Knox posting a team-high 19 points and 10 assists. Howard had 16 points and 13 rebounds, moving up to fourth on Texas A&M's single-season rebound list.
Khaalia Hillsman added 16 points and Danni Williams had 12.
A'ja Wilson led the Gamecocks with 21 points.
The Aggies conclude the regular season on Sunday, February 26 at 4 p.m. at Ole Miss. The Aggies start the SEC Tournament in the Second Round on Thursday, March 2 in Greenville, S.C.
QUICKIE NOTES
- Curtyce Knox broke the Texas A&M single-season record with 266 assists on the season, passing the previous record of 261 assists, set by Jordan Jones in 2013-14
- Knox passed Jones (2013-14, 261 assists), Auburn's Whitney Boddie (2008-09, 262 assists) and Vanderbilt's Cathy Bender (1981-82, 262 assists) for fourth on the SEC single-season assist list
- Knox has the most assists of any SEC player since 2004-05.
- The Aggies fall to 19-9 on the season and 9-6 in SEC play. South Carolina is now 23-4 and 13-2 in SEC play
- Texas A&M is now guaranteed the 5 or 6 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament, and plays its first game on Thursday, March 2.
- Khaalia Hillsman has scored in double figures in all 28 games this season
- Knox had her fifth double-double of the season and her career
- She scored 10+ points for the 14th time this season
- She had 10+ assists for the 14th time this season
- Danni Williams scored in double figures for the 26th time this season
- Anriel Howard had her 13th double-double of the season, which ranks in the Top 25 nationwide
- She scored in double figures for the 15th time this season and the 17th time in her career
- She had 10+ rebounds for the 20th time this season and 25th time in her career
- Howard moved from seventh to fourth on Texas A&M's career rebound list, passing Susan Kimbro (1976-77, 286 rebounds), Lisa Jordon (1988-89, 287 rebounds) and Michell Tatum (1983-84, 291 rebounds). Howard has 298 rebounds on the season
- Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 328-138 in 14 seasons at Texas A&M and 736-301 in his Hall of Fame Career, and ranks 14th all-time in career wins
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Thoughts on the game...
"With the stat sheet you can basically write the story without any comment form me. It's pretty obvious. They shot well. We tried our 2-3 zone and we even tried man-to-man a little at the end. They played like a top-5 team. They played a lot better than Mississippi State did when they were in here on Sunday. Give them a lot of credit playing without (Alaina) Coates, the best 5-player in the league. That's what this league is all about. Are we going to be good enough to play with the big boys in this league? We are one of those teams. It doesn't matter that we've lost three games in a row. In 2013, we lost our last three games before the conference tournament and went in and won the tournament. What we have to do is not worry about the conference tournament and get our confidence up. We played two top teams here and both teams were a little bit better than us but one game we could have won."
On the difference...
"Our guards quit scoring, and in the first quarter our post players were missing the easy stuff. So we traded off again, but tonight is about South Carolina. This is one of the first games all year where we just got outclassed. I'm not that down on my team I'm just high on South Carolina. They've earned everything they've got."
Texas A&M Senior Guard Curtyce Knox
On the Texas A&M offense…
"I just think that the guards on our team came out really aggressive at the beginning of the game. I think if we did that throughout the rest of the three quarters then the outcome would have been better. I think we could have attacked and shot the ball more."
On the South Carolina press…
"We weren't ready for it, we weren't expecting it, and I take fault for that, I should have attacked the post player and made something happen."
On breaking Jordan Jones' single-season assist record…
"It means a lot to me, I give all the credit to my teammates like I always do. If they don't make the shots then I can't make the assist."
South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley
Opening Statement...
"We pressed them because we wanted to speed up the tempo. We know they are a team that's well-coached. We didn't want to give them an opportunity to pick our defense apart. We tried to see if we could force them to turn it over and to play faster so they couldn't get the play call from the bench. You have to create an edge especially when you're facing a team like Texas A&M"
Team Stats
SC
TAMU
FG%
.500
.407
3FG%
.273
.455
FT%
.938
.647
RB
38
33
TO
11
15
STL
13
2
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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