Men's Basketball Advances to NCAA Tournament's Second Round, 73-69

Friday, March 16

Charlotte, N.C.

11:15 a.m.

Texas A&M

Providence

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box (PDF)Highlights Press Conferences Reaction Photos

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)--Tyler Davis and Robert Williams spent all Friday snatching rebound after rebound, blocking a few shots and had Williams offer a highlight-reel capper in the final minute.

When Texas A&M's bigs are playing like this, it's tough to tussle with these Aggies. And that gives them their best chance to stick around the NCAA Tournament for another weekend.

Davis had 14 points and 15 rebounds and Williams added his own double-double to help Texas A&M beat Providence 73-69, sending the Aggies on to the second round of the West Region.

Williams finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds for Texas A&M (21-12), the region's No. 7 seed. They also each blocked two shots.

"We got a lot of help from our guards, too," Davis said. "Our guards put bodies on the outside so we can play 1-on-1 inside. It was really a team effort. We were able to snag a couple of boards."

A couple? The 6-foot-10 forwards outrebounded Providence's entire team.

"We're just out there doing our job," Davis said. "This is what we do. We know we have the advantage inside most games so this is just another game where we came out and gave 100 percent effort on the glass."

Providence's players knew it would be a challenge for their smaller group to battle on the boards. The game plan, guard Kyron Cartwright said Thursday, was simply "box out." And all through the Friars' locker room in Charlotte on Friday were orange signs saying the same thing.

Still, knowing what they had to do and executing it were two different things.

The Aggies finished with a 44-26 rebounding advantage and had 11 offensive rebounds against the 10th-seeded Friars (21-14).

"Even though we were checking out, and I thought we did a decent job, they got length rebounds," Providence coach Ed Cooley said. "There's really nothing you can do. That's God's gift to them. There's really nothing you can do about it. You keep encouraging your kids, but when you've got 7-6 wing length and 7-5 wing length, that's genetics, baby."

The Aggies keep dancing @tracywolfson caught up with @aggiembk's Tyler Davis after their 73-69 win over Providence pic.twitter.com/AnRmH6wwcN
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 16, 2018

Survive & Advance!

Ags take the 1st round matchup, face winner of UNC/Lipscomb Sunday!#DoMore #12thMan pic.twitter.com/rM3tjBGtKl
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 16, 2018

GIG 'EM!

(7) Texas A&M dominates the glass and takes down (10) Providence 73-69. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/0HJvvKvRTL
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 16, 2018

GO UP AND THROW DOWN A WINDMILL THEN! ??????#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/d1pSDmOnhk
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 16, 2018

On to the next one ??#DoMore #12thMan pic.twitter.com/0AkDC5xzuE
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 16, 2018

Postgame Notes

RECORDS / SERIES NOTES

No. 7 seed Texas A&M improved to 21-12 this season and advanced to the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament on Friday with a 73-69 victory over No. 10 seed Providence … The Aggies move on to face the winner of Lipscomb-North Carolina on Sunday.
The Aggies improved to 1-0 all-time against Providence.

TEXAS A&M IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

With the win, the Aggies are 12-14 all-time in 14 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
The Aggies have now won their opening game in the NCAA Tournament in seven of their last eight tourney appearances since 2006.
A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is 4-3 as a head coach during four appearances the NCAA Tournament … Kennedy's three victories in the NCAA Tournament at Texas A&M are the most by an Aggie head coach, tying former A&M coaches Shelby Metcalf, Billy Gillispie and Mark Turgeon (3).

TEAM NOTES

The Aggies shot a blistering 68.0 percent from the floor in the second half (17-of-25) to help open up the game late, finishing the contest at 26-of-52 overall from the floor … the Maroon & White took the lead for good with 8:09 to play, building as much as an 11-point advantage with less than 30 seconds to play.
Texas A&M posted eight blocks against Providence, setting the program record for blocks in an NCAA Tournament game ... additionally, a trio of Aggies registered multiple blocks on the day, the first time the Aggies have accomplished the feat in the NCAA Tournament.
The Aggies took a 28-27 lead into the locker room after outrebounding the Friars 23-16 in the opening frame … for the game, A&M owned a commanding 44-23 edge in rebounding.
A&M used the starting lineup combination of TJ Starks, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Robert Williams and Tyler Davis for the 12^th time this season (7-5).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Junior Admon Gilder posted a team-high 18 points on the afternoon, the most he has scored in four career NCAA Tournament game ... the Dallas native's previous high was 11 points against Green Bay and Northern Iowa in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore Robert Williams corralled 14 rebounds to become the 28^th member of Texas A&M's 500-Rebound Club … Williams became the third Aggie to reach the milestone this season, joining teammates Tyler Davis and Tonny Trocha-Morelos … Williams added 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting to register his 18^th career double-double as well as his seventh this season.
Junior Tyler Davis pulled down 15 boards to pass Ronnie Peret (735 rebounds from 1966-69) for 12^th on A&M's all-time rebounding list ... the 15 rebounds tied for the second most by an Aggie in an NCAA Tournament game … Davis added 14 points as he went 6-for-10 from the floor to earn his 18^th career double-double (12^th this season).
Williams & Davis became the 11^th & 12^th players in Texas A&M program history to pull down double-digit rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game.
Davis and Williams registered double-doubles against Providence, marking just the second time in program history that a pair of Aggies accomplished the feat in the same NCAA Tournament game (Billy Bob Barnet 12 points/11 rebounds & Steve Niles 17 points/16 rebounds against Trinity in 1969)
Freshman TJ Starks had an impressive NCAA Tournament debut finishing with 15 points and eight assists … the guard set the Texas A&M NCAA Tournament assists record with eight dishes … the Dallas native passed David Britton (7 vs Louisville 3/14/1980) and Donald Sloan (7 vs BYU 3/19/2009) on the all-time ledger.
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy improved to 136-97 during his seven-year tenure at Texas A&M and 347-276 in 20 seasons as a head coach.

PROVIDENCE

Providence finished the season with an overall record of 21-14.
Coach Ed Cooley fell to 1-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament as head coach at Providence. His lone victory came two years ago against USC at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
Providence lost for the first time in NCAA Tournament play in Charlotte, falling to 4-1. It defeated No. 7 Marquette and No. 2 Duke here in the First and Second Rounds in 1997 and posted wins over Penn and Maryland in the 1973 Eastern Regional. The Friars are 6-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games in the state of North Carolina (Charlotte 4-1, Raleigh 2-2).
The Friars fell to 3-3 as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Basketball Championships and 1-2 versus No. 7 seeds.
Providence fell to 5-8 as a lower seed since the field expanded to 64 in 1985.
The Friars finished the season 1-8 when allowing teams to shoot 50 percent or better from the field.
Senior Rodney Bullock scored 22 points to become the 21^st player in school history to score 1,400 points. It was his 34^th double-digit scoring game of the season and seventh 20-point performance. Bullock finishes his career with 1,404 points.
Senior Kyron Cartwright distributed nine assists to finish his career ranked third on the school's all-time assists list with 646.
Sophomore Alpha Diallo posted his fourth 20-point game of the season, finishing with 21 points.

Postgame Quotes

HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening statement
"It's good to win a hard fought, physical game against a well-coached team like Providence. I thought we played through our post guys, did a good job of getting it inside, a good job of rebounding for the most part. I thought Admon Gilder did a good job in the first half. He was tremendous when we really struggled scoring. He made some big plays for us posting up and scoring in a variety of ways."

GUARD ADMON GILDER
On keeping the defensive intensity when the offense was cold
"We put our heads on playing defense. Coach Kennedy tells us every day that's where we are best. Tyler [Davis} and Robert [Williams} with their shot blocking and the ability they have of keeping the guards out of the lane. We just kept on fighting and that's what we did today."

On his dance after hitting a 3-pointer late in the game
"I knew that was a big shot. You know D.J. [Hogg] drove through the lane; he does a great job of getting in the lane. Once I hit that three, I just felt good and all the emotion just came out of me."

CENTER TYLER DAVIS
On keeping the defensive intensity when the offense was cold
"We just played defense and played hard. There are going to be stretches where they make their runs offensively, but like Admon said, we hang our head on defense. That's what we've done all year."

On the importance of rebounding
"We are just out there doing our jobs, this is what we do. We know we have the advantage inside most games, so this is just another game where we came out and gave 100 percent effort on the glass."

FORWARD ROBERT WILLIAMS
On the importance of rebounding
"I would say it's just something we take pride in every game. Our coaches stressed before the game that the other teams' coaches emphasized hitting us and boxing us out. We just wanted to go out and show them how aggressive we are and do what we do."

GUARD T.J. STARKS
On the adjustments he and the rest of the team made for the second half
"I just came in the locker room and realized I had to make an adjustment. I locked in and realized that we could get a win, and I wanted to do what I could to help us do that. They [the A&M coaching staff] told me at halftime I was playing good and doing well. They told me to just keep up the pace of play and the game will come to you, and that's what it did… we were competing in the first half, but we came out in the second half and just played our game. We got in sync and realized we just needed to come together, because we don't want to go home. This is our first NCAA Tournament together, so we might have been a little uptight in the first half but once we let loose we set the tone."

FORWARD TONNY TROCHA-MORELOS
On making the first field goal for the Aggies and how the momentum changed
"Any basket can bring a team together. We struggled a little bit in the first few minutes, but once I made that basket, I think it gave us motivation and the energy, whether being on the court or coming off the bench, to play hard."

On the trio of "big guys" in center Tyler Davis, forward Robert Williams and himself
"Tyler is big and Robert's athleticism is crazy but we knew that it was going to be tough to get the ball down the court. We have good height and we know we can rebound well. We out-rebounded them by, well I don't even know how many, but you can see we had more precision because of how and the way we rebound with our big guys."

Thoughts on Providence
"That's a hard team. They have great players and they're very well coached. They play extremely hard, and even though they're in a different conference than us, at the end of the day basketball is just a physical game and that's how you have to play it."

GUARD JAY JAY CHANDLER
On how the bench energy helps motivate and lift the five on the court
"Whenever we see a nice play on the court or one of the guys going up to the rim or something, the energy on the bench just goes up times 10. On road games like this, when we're not at home and not with our fans, the bench is our energy. We might not have a lot of people in the crowd, so we just stay together and keep the momentum and excitement up high. Once I got in the game and ran up and down the court a few times, the butterflies escaped and I could finally start to play."