Aggies Vanquish the Vaqueros, 81-68

Sunday, December 6

Bryan-College Station

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

3-0,0-0SEC

UTRGV

3-2,0-0WAC

UTRGV

Texas A&M

Dec 06, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box: Texas A&M 81, UTRGV 68 Photo Gallery

By: Evan Roberts, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Emanuel Miller scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Andre Gordon added 16 points and Texas A&M defeated Texas-Rio Grande Valley 81-68 on Sunday.

Miller made 7 of 8 shots from the floor and converted 7 of 9 free throws for the Aggies. He also contributed three steals. Gordon added five assists, four rebounds a block and a steal.

Thanks to Miller, Texas A&M (3-0) outscored the Vaqueros 30-18 in the paint and had the edge in rebounding, 39-30. The Aggies also scored 21 points on 33 free-throw attempts.

Late in the game Gordon dunked off a pretty alley-oop pass from Savion Flagg, who finished with seven assists and seven points.

Quinton Johnson led Texas-Rio Grande Valley (3-2) with 21 points, knocking in four 3-pointers. Marek Nelson added 10 points. Chris Freeman added nine but was 2-for-12 shooting.

The Vaqueros were 21 for 60 from the floor (35%), and 9-for-30 from distance.

Gordon opened the game with a jumper and Flagg dropped in a 3 for a 5-0 lead. After briefly spotting UTRGV a 6-5 edge, the Aggies rolled off a 20-9 spurt and were never seriously threatened.

Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 81, UTRGV 68
Reed Arena (Bryan-College Station, Texas)

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M defeated UTRGV, 81-68, Sunday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The Aggies all-time record between the two teams is now 2-0 with both meetings being held in College Station.
The Maroon & White are 3-0 to begin the season for the first time since 2017-18.

TEAM NOTES

The Aggies shot 56% (14-of-25) in the opening period, the best shooting performance in a half this season.
After being down 6-5 at the 16:03 mark of the first half, a Quenton Jackson 3-pointer gave the Aggies the lead which they did not surrender the rest of the game.
The A&M bench scored 41 points, the most bench points scored this season.

Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Hassan Diarra, Savion Flagg, Andre Gordon, Hayden Hefner and Kevin Marfo (1-0) for the first time.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Emanuel Miller recorded his second consecutive double-double, leading the Aggies with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Miller shot 7-of-8 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line.
Savion Flagg dished out a career-high seven assists. Flagg also grabbed four rebounds which put his career total to 528, moving to 24^th in Aggie history.
Andre Gordon scored 18 points and recorded a career-high five assists. His shooting performance marks his eighth career game and two of his last three games with 10-or-more points. The Sidney, Ohio, native also registered his second career block.
Kevin Marfo grabbed nine rebounds and had a block, both new marks through his first three games in Aggieland.
Buzz Williams is 19-14 in his career at Texas A&M and 272-169 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT
Texas A&M travels to Dickies Arena to take on TCU on Saturday, Dec. 12. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN+.

Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams

On Savion Flagg's ability to operate the offense…
"The first thing I would say is that his game takes a lot of pressure off our other perimeter guys. We're running offense through him. There's a little bit of lipstick on the pig before we get him the ball, but once he gets the ball, he becomes the quarterback. I think his assist-to-turnover ratio through three games is obviously superb. As we continue to get more fluid with some of the actions we're doing, his reads will become easier and more defined. He's doing a really, really good job."

On Emanuel Miller's performance to start the season…
"He's fun to watch. His spirit is contagious, as much as any player that we've been around. He plays incredibly hard and understands the value of a possession. He never gives up on a possession on either end of the floor. I think Eman (Emanuel Miller) is just going to keep going. He's going to continue getting his body back to where it was. It's hard for us to take him off the floor, because he greatly impacts the game on both ends."

On the team's development since the Tarleton State game…
"On Wednesday, I didn't think we played near as hard as we have to play. So, I thought our competitiveness and the spirit with which we fought was much better today relative to Wednesday. I think it's encouraging that we're going back in the right direction, but in truth we're going to have to continue to build off of that. We're going to have to play incredibly hard to have a chance, and while we were much better in that category, we weren't consistent enough. The effort was much better today than it was on Wednesday though."

Sophomore guard Andre Gordon

On A&M's togetherness through the first three games…
"We've got a lot of young guys, and we have a lot of old heads. I think we play really well together. We've been together since August, so our chemistry is awesome. We're all brothers, so when we're playing together it's really not all that hard, because we know each other so well. If anyone is down, we know how to pick each other up. We hold each other accountable and do the right things on and off the court."

On the team's quality of work…
"Every day after practice, probably more than half of the team stays after and shoots, whether they're tired or not. That really shows when it comes to game time. You have six or seven guys staying after practice for 30 or 40 extra minutes, just to get shots up and work on their games. True confidence only comes from the work that you put in."

Sophomore forward Emanuel Miller

On his improvement over the past year…
"Last year, coming in and playing big minutes as a freshman, I had a lot of freshman tendencies. So, I spent some time to learn from my mistakes and watched a lot of film with one of the best coaching staffs in the world. I'm always trying to find areas in my game where I can get better, and it's really helping me out. Being able to slow the game down by watching film helps me in so many ways."

On his relationship with former Aggie center Josh Nebo…
"I don't know where to begin with Nebo. A lot of my success and everything that's happening right now; he played a big factor in it. I probably should tell him more than I do, but without Nebo mentoring me and showing me the ropes of how college basketball operates, you wouldn't see the player that's sitting here today. He has helped me consistently, even while he's playing overseas. He's still mentoring me and still motivating me. Being mentioned in the same sentence as Nebo is an honor."