Aggies Downed by Gamecocks

Wednesday, January 6

Columbia, S.C.

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

6-3,1-2SEC

South Carolina

3-2,1-0SEC

Texas A&M

South Carolina

Photo by: Joshua Boucher

Jan 06, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box: South Carolina 78, Texas A&M 54

By: Evan Roberts, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — AJ Lawson scored 19 of his career-high 30 points in the second half as South Carolina pulled away and beat Texas A&M 78-54 on Wednesday night in the Gamecocks' Southeastern Conference opener.

South Carolina (3-2, 1-0), which had a 28-day layoff before an eight-point win over Florida A&M on Saturday, made 10 baskets from beyond the arc and shot 42% (29 of 69) overall.

Lawson was 10-of-22 shooting with three 3-pointers. Jermaine Couisnard made a career-best five 3s and finished with 15 points and four assists. Wildens Leveque added 10 points.

Emanuel Miller scored 17 of his career-best 28 points in the first half for Texas A&M (6-3, 1-2). He is one of eight players in the SEC this season who has scored in double figures in every game they have played. Quenton Jackson added 13 points.

Jackson's 3-pointer pulled the Aggies to 38-34 early in the second half. The Gamecocks answered with a 17-5 run and had a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Six players had at least five rebounds for South Carolina, which outrebounded the Aggies 45-31.

Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Notes
South Carolina 78, Texas A&M 54
Colonial Life Arena (Columbia, S.C.)

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M was downed by South Carolina on Wednesday night, 78-54.
The Gamecocks lead the all-time series 8-4.

TEAM NOTES

The Maroon & White recorded nine steals, the most they have had in SEC play and the third most this season.
Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Andre Gordon, Quenton Jackson, Kevin Marfo, Emanuel Miller and Jaxson Robinson (1-1) for the second time this season.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Sophomore Emanuel Miller registered a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, and was 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. His 10 made field goals is a new career high. Miller led the Aggies in rebounds for the seventh time this season with six.
Senior Quenton Jackson scored 13 points and matched his career high in assists with five.
Freshman Hayden Hefner hauled in a season-high five rebounds in 16 minutes of play.
Junior Luke McGhee made his first appearance of the season and scored his career point.
Senior Savion Flagg recorded two steals, tying his season high, in his 100^th- career game.
Buzz Williams is 22-17 in his career at Texas A&M and 275-172 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT
Texas A&M returns to Reed Arena for a 1 p.m. matchup against No. 9 Tennessee at Reed Arena. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On the Importance of statistics during a game …
"If you are in first grade and you love basketball, the first thing you would teach your child is, how many shots did Texas A&M shoot and how many shots did South Carolina shoot. The answer to that question is 19. When they are now in third grade, you then start trying to explain how they can understand the difference in the disparity of the numbers. There are two ways to do that. Number one is that Texas A&M gave them the ball in turnovers, and number two, South Carolina rebounded their missed shots too many times. As you then get into middle school, the percentages start to come into play. The percentage of time Texas A&M had the ball tonight, we turned it over 26%. The percentage of time that South Carolina shot it and missed it was 40 balls. Of those 40 they missed, they got 17 of them back. Here is what you figure out in high school, and most people don't follow it enough to get to this point. You have to figure out those 17 offensive rebounds. You know that 43% of the time they miss it, they got it back. One of the tell signs in high school if you are studying numbers, forget the personnel, you are trying to understand what correlates with winning and what correlates with losing. They had 17 offensive rebounds, and Texas A&M had six. Texas A&M shot it and missed it. The stat sheet says they got six offensive rebounds. But in truth, you know, in high school, that isn't correct. They only got three. Texas A&M missed it and cleanly got the rebound back. They got three of those out of the 200 minutes played. When Texas A&M shot it and missed it, multiple South Carolina players tried to get the rebound, and it was deflected out. The only way, statistically, you can prove that is it stayed Texas A&M ball. But now, it was from out of bounds. On the other end, they missed 40 balls, so they only shot 42%, which is okay at best number. Considering they missed 40 balls, you have to consider their second shot field-goal percentage. That is more of a college course. Of those offensive rebounds, which was 17; This proves that Texas A&M did not have multiple guys trying to get the same ball that went out of bounds. As I have said already this season, these are the things that mathematically become hard to overcome. It was a two-possession game at halftime. And I keep explaining this to our guys, we talk about turkeys three stops in a row but have to explain we need to come up with a new word. I am saying this to them during timeouts, that we need a stop, rebound and a shot. We don't have to make it, but we need the shot. Within each ATO, they're shooting three and four more balls than we are. It is a combination of this diatribe that I just had."

On the preparations and in-game changes…
"We prepared well in regards to the team on Monday and Tuesday. We did well this afternoon during shootaround. I always have the veto power when things are not going well. Also, the foul trouble discombobulated the line-sub."

On looking ahead….
"I think that we will probably get home around three this morning. We are in the East Coast time zone playing the late game, and we then play the earliest game Saturday. It will be a quick turnaround for us. We have our weeks planned out on Sundays. So, we already have our plan moving into Thursday and Friday, relative to the PCR test, film, weights and practice. What I just told our team at the end was the things plaguing us, regardless of opponent and local or what we have to change to beat Auburn and, or make LSU and South Carolina a game. I believe that the same will be true of Tennessee. I know bits and pieces of Tennessee. I know they have really good personnel along with a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I know that defensively, their numbers are elite nationally, and they play with great fundamental force at both ends. We will have trouble scoring and guarding, but we will have even more if our turnover rate stays too high, and they are able to get 19 more shots like South Carolina got tonight."

Sophomore forward Emanuel Miller
On the discipline needed to compete tonight…
"I would have to say this loss comes from our lack of discipline. As you could see, just like everyone else, it was apparent as ever. We still have so much room to grow. We're not yet disciplined to compete in consecutive games. That will be the next step as a program that we have to take. We have to collectively, as a group, get better. That is not something that happens overnight. It happens every single day that we practice. Overall, we have a lot of room to grow as a team."

On the collective group effort…
"I am not going to just say it was my teammates, without saying it was me. I am one of the players on this team. I made mistakes alongside others. There is a lot of areas I need to improve, and as I need to improve, I will get other guys on the train to bring them along. As I said before, we need to be more disciplined. We weren't disciplined in our defense, and we didn't take up space on rebounds. We have to take each day to get better."

On the importance of each possession in a game…
"I think that regardless of the situation we are put in, we have to fight. If you don't have players that are fighting each possession as your life depends on it, then we will have no chance of winning in this league. This is a competitive league with great teams and coaches. Each possession matters, and I say that time and time again. Each possession is life and death in this league. (Jonathan) Aku and (Kevin) Marfo got into foul trouble that leads to the lineups being tweaked. But that is something we have to adjust to. That is when we need the next guys in line to step up and be ready. As a team, collectively, we have to get better. Circumstances like that, we have to do better."

On the difference in the halves…
"First half, I think we were competing. There were a couple of possessions where we weren't disciplined. But going into halftime, we were only down six points. We had a collective group thought to come out of halftime and take the lead to expand and build some momentum. In the second half, that is where it felt like the TCU game all over again. We lost our fight and effort. I have to give kudos to South Carolina. They showed us we still have room to grow. They came out and played their game; it was as simple as that. They out-rebounded, toughed and competed us tonight. Moving forward, that is something that cannot happen."