Aggies Use Strong Second Half in 56-55 Win at Mississippi State

Wednesday, January 13

Starkville, Miss.

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

7-4,2-3SEC

Mississippi State

8-5,3-2SEC

Texas A&M

Mississippi St.

Jan 13, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box: Texas A&M 56, Mississippi State 55

By: Evan Roberts, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Emanuel Miller and Andre Gordon each scored five points during Texas A&M's closing 12-5 run as the Aggies beat Mississippi State 56-55 on Wednesday night.

The Aggies (7-4, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) snapped a two-game skid while Mississippi State (8-5, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) had its two-game win streak end.

Jay Jay Chandler scored 12 points off the bench to lead Texas A&M. Gordon finished with 11 points and Miller had 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs led 50-44 with 5:14 to play. Miller scored the next five points, Savion Flagg added a dunk, and Gordon added an alley-oop dunk plus a 3-pointer and the Aggies led 56-52 with 1:52 left.

Jalen Johnson split a pair of free throws for Mississippi State to cap the scoring with 57 seconds left.

Iverson Molinar, whose 19.2 points per game is third in the SEC, had 16 points to lead the Bulldogs. D.J. Stewart Jr., who averages 18.6 points, added nine points on 3-of-14 shooting.

Texas A&M used a 17-4 run to tie it at 44 with about eight minutes remaining. The Bulldogs entered having won four of their last five against the Aggies.

Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 56, Mississippi State 55
Humphrey Coliseum (Starkville, Miss.)

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M defeated Mississippi State, 56-55, Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss.
The Aggies now lead the series, 8-7.
With the win, Texas A&M moves to 7-4 (2-3 SEC) on the year.

TEAM NOTES

Texas A&M won the turnover battle for the first time in SEC play, 15-11.
The Maroon & White made 14 fields goals in the second half, tied for the most in any half in conference action.
After falling behind 40-27 with 17:28 remaining in the second half, the Aggies mustered a 13-0 run over the next to 5:34 to tie the game at 40-40.
Texas A&M completed the comeback with a 10-2 run at 4:43 that spanned the next 2:51 to take a four-point lead, one they would not relinquish.
Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Jonathan Aku, Hassan Diarra, Andre Gordon, Hayden Hefner and Emanuel Miller (1-1) for the second time this season.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Senior Jay Jay Chandler lead the team in scoring for the second time this season with 12 points.
Sophomore Jonathan Aku recorded a season-high five points, the most he has scored in his career in an SEC game, and tallied a season-high two blocks.
Hassan Diarra dished out a season-high five assists and recorded his first-career block.
Luke McGhee recorded his first-career field goal and added career highs in rebounds (2) and minutes played (7).
Andre Gordon scored in double figures (11) for the fifth time this season.
Emanuel Miller finished with 10 points, marking the ninth game he has scored 10-or-more and led the team in rebounds with eight for the ninth time this season.
Buzz Williams is 23-18 in his career at Texas A&M and 276-173 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT
Texas A&M returns to Reed Arena on Saturday for a noon matchup against Missouri. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On what he saw from his team tonight…
"I can't take any credit for that tonight. I think this comes from how their parents raised them. They are really good kids. To some degree, which I am saying respectful, they are too good of kids. They are smart and understand what we are doing, saying and asking of them. We just haven't had consistency in doing those things. I thought tonight was the most together we have played relative to the recipe required for it to be a game. We scored 56 points, which is our average. But we were down 13, with 19 minutes to play. In the first half, they missed 14 shots, and that's good, but of those 14, they got seven of them back to score eight points. That is hard for us to overcome. In the first half, we gave them the ball 20% of the time. But the only way to overcome it is having the spirit of fight and togetherness that will at least give us a chance. It at least gave us a chance because we knew that was our only choice. But in truth, whether we are winning or losing, it still is our only choice. I hope that tonight's second half will be an acceptance similar to what our team did last year. They finally accepted what the margin was and said okay. We've tried a lot of different things that don't work. The next question will be, can we take this second half and take a baby step from the end of this game, or when we work tomorrow and Friday, will we go back and start how this game started tonight. From a maturity standpoint, that is the next step this team and program has to make."

On Andre Gordon's performance and last possession handle…
"Similar to the last time this happened, he is not scared. I am not implying that anybody else on our team is scared. Dre is not a college basketball savant. He is a competitor, but it is not like he grew up knowing who this guy was and his ranking. I also think from a tactical standpoint, he is strong enough and tough enough to play off two feet. We get a shot clock violation on the last play possession, which was one of our 11 turnovers. That is okay because now it is not a live ball turnover, and they have to link through the floor on a set defense. It just so happened they called a timeout. He got them into the rotation to play off of two feet, almost leading to a shot. It speaks to his toughness as a player and person."

Senior guard Jay Jay Chandler
On the rebounding and shooting through tonight's game…
"We used our intensity on the defensive end. We got down there and tried to grab as many rebounds as possible. They outrebounded us in the first half. That was what the conversation centered around during halftime. We knew that we all needed to come together and get down there on the defensive end, and to limit the extra shot. We were shooting shots that everyone knew were going up, which allowed us to crash the boards and get more shots up as well. We went out there and kept fighting. We know every game is going to come down to who wants it more. We came together to pull out this win tonight."

On the halftime conversation…
"Coach came in and talked to us about rebounds and turnovers. They outrebounded us in the first half by 10. We then came out in the second half to outrebound them by 10 in the first 10 minutes. We already knew that it would be a big game plan since they are a good rebounding team. They had some good guards that would shoot a lot of shots. They want to tally rebounds and get shots, so we keyed in on those impacts to pull out the win."

On the last possession of the game…
"We knew they were going to try to catch it and get to the other end as fast as possible. Probably even try to get down there to get an open three on a backscreen. We knew and wanted them to catch it upfront and stay away from fouling, to play our defense. We were looking to play them straight to the point. We understood that possession was going to be a key part of this whole game, which in the end, helped us win. Each defensive play we had tonight built towards the last one, to cap the game."

Sophomore guard Andre Gordon
On his dunk tonight…
"We called that play a few times in the first half. It just wasn't open. Towards the end of the game, we clicked. Savion (Flagg) was in the right position, and everyone else fell into where they needed to be. I think it brought momentum to our team. When you get a dunk on the other end, it hyped up our defense towards the end of the game with a low clock. It helped us out in a sense."

On the close game confidence…
"I think we practice very hard and practice the way we want to play. In a sense, at the end of the game, if the ball is in my hand or anyone else's, we have to be comfortable and have the confidence to make those shots. It is in my hands or Jay Jay's (Chandler) hands. We all are capable of making those shots. I think I have been in that position the last two times."

On the defense sparking the offense in the end…
"I think our defense sparks the offense every single game. We were in a high press with Jay Jay (Chandler) bouncing around up there and myself and Eman (Emmanuel Miller) on the wings. I think it gives us more ball, especially when we are connecting and moving together. Our defense helps us out on the offensive end. It even slows the game down with a low scoring game. It allows us only to play our game and transition.