Texas A&M
11-0,2-0SEC
Kentucky
9-2,2-1SEC
No. 8 Aggies Drop 10th-Ranked Kentucky, 77-60
Jan 07, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Aaliyah Wilson scored 18 points and Ciera Johnson had 14, and N'dea Jones added 12 points and 12 rebounds to help the Aggies (11-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) match their best start since the 2014-15 season.
Nixon scored A&M's first 11 points and capped a 14-0 run early in the fourth quarter with two free throws to give the Aggies a 59-47 lead. Kentucky's Blair Green ended the drought with a 15-foot jumper with to pull the Wildcats within 10 with 7:20 left, but that's the closest the Wildcats (9-2, 2-1) got.
Rhyne Howard, the reigning SEC player of the year, had 22 points for Kentucky. KeKe McKinney added 12 points.
A&M went inside to start the second half with Johnson getting two buckets and two free throws to help the Aggies take a 45-39 lead. Kentucky answered with an 8-0 run as Howard hit a 3-pointer and then assisted on a 3 by McKinney.
The Aggies answered with the last eight points of the quarter with half coming at the free-throw line. Kentucky didn't score in the last 4:31, making three turnovers and missing three field goals and two free throws.
Kentucky took a 5-0 lead, but the Aggies came back to take an 11-9 lead with all the points by Nixon, who capped it with a 3-pointer just under five minutes into the game.
Howard and Jazmine Massengill hit shots in the last 15 seconds of the first quarter to give the Wildcats a 21-18 lead. A 14-foot jumper by Chasity Patterson and a pair of buckets by Howard gave Kentucky the biggest lead of the first half at 27-20. But the Wildcats had four turnovers in the last 6:33 left before intermission and the Aggies hit 5 of 6 free throws, including two by Wilson with 15 seconds left to tie the score at 31.
---
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- With the win, Texas A&M rises to 11-0 on the season with a 2-0 mark to begin SEC play. Kentucky drops to 9-2 with a 2-1 SEC record.
- Texas A&M climbs to 7-5 in the all-time series with Kentucky, and evens the series at Reed Arena 3-3.
- The Maroon & White are now 2-9 versus the Associated Press' No. 10 ranked team all-time. A&M's last win against No. 10 was a 67-64 victory over LSU in the 1988-89 season.
TEAM NOTES
- A&M won its 11th consecutive game on Thursday night, the best record to start a season since the 2008-09 campaign where the Aggies went 12-0 to begin the year.
- Texas A&M's longest win streak in program history is 12, which last occurred in the 2011 National Championship season.
- Following a deadlocked first half at 31-31, the Aggies utilized an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter to take a 53-47 lead.
- The Aggies finished the game with a 17-point lead, the largest of the game.
- The Maroon & White won the rebounding battle 35-26 with a 26-20 disparity on the defensive glass. The Aggies outrebounded their opponent for the 10th time in 11 games.
- A&M outscored the Wildcats 28-22 in the paint, winning the scoring battle down low for the eighth time this season.
- The Aggies shot 94.7% at the free throw line, sinking 18-of-19 shots at the charity stripe. The 94.7% clip sets a new team season high in the category.
- Texas A&M started the game with a lineup of Aaliyah Wilson, Jordan Nixon, Kayla Wells, N'dea Jones and Ciera Johnson for the 11th consecutive game.
- The Aggies have enjoyed a double-digit lead in every game this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- N'dea Jones tied former Aggie center Khaalia Hillsman for the program record in double-doubles with 33.
- Jones finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes. This was the seventh double-double for Jones this season.
- The Lawrenceville, Georgia, native also tied Hillsman for fifth all-time in rebounding, hauling in her 880th career rebound tonight.
- Jones' 12 points marks her eighth double-digit scoring performance of the year and 37th of her career.
- The senior forward led all players with 12 rebounds, logging her eighth double-digit rebounding performance of the season and 54th of her career.
- Jordan Nixon obliterated her career high and led the team with 19 points, scoring the Aggies first 11 points of the game.
- Nixon scored in double figures for the sixth time this season.
- The New York, New York, native also contributed a team-high tying three assists.
- Aaliyah Wilson placed second on the team with 18 points, while also contributing four assists.
- Wilson recorded her ninth double-digit scoring performance of the season and 28th of her career.
- The Muskogee, Oklahoma, native leads all A&M players in double-digit scoring games.
- Ciera Johnson dropped 14 points with eight rebounds. The senior center set a new season high in steals (three) and blocks (two), as well as tying her season-high assist total with three.
- The Duncanville, Texas native led the team with a plus-20 plus/minus.
- Johnson logged her eighth double-digit scoring game of the season and the 57th of her career.
- Kayla Wells came up with timely shots in the fourth quarter and scored nine points in the game.
- Gary Blair rises to 824-330 in his career as a head coach and climbs to 416-167 in Aggieland. The Hall-of-Famer is now 17-8 in his career against Kentucky, winning his first matchup with first-year Head Coach Kyra Elzy.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M women's basketball travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the No. 13 Arkansas Razorbacks on Sunday, January 10 at Bud Walton Arena. The game is slated to be nationally televised on SEC Network with tip scheduled for 3 p.m.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Blair
Opening Statement…
"I just want to mention some bullet points right quick. We held both of Kentucky's post players to zero points. That is unbelievable considering how good those two kids are. Ciera [Johnson] was able to stay out of foul trouble and we only had nine fouls in the whole game. Jordan [Nixon] came out like a champion tonight. She hit tough shots, and I don't think Kentucky was expecting that. She gets her shots working in our offense, but she got tired a little later in the first half, so McKinzie Green was able to carry us to halftime. We share. We share the spotlight. Also, give our post players a lot of credit. They only had five shots combined in the first half, but they were able to kick the ball out for some big shots in the third quarter. Any time your team shoots 72% in the fourth quarter, our kids are able to show that we can play through being tired. You had two of the best offensive teams in the SEC on the floor tonight, and both of us showed it."
On Jordan Nixon's breakout performance…
"She is a two guard or a one, but I needed her at the point tonight because of her leadership. She has that New York City mentality, which means that a turnover doesn't hold her back. She just has no fear. She lives in the gym too. Between her and [Aaliyah] Wilson, I can't keep those two out of the gym. They're always in there getting extra shots up. That being said, Nixon's game was a great performance by a point guard that hadn't played that many minutes. She did a tremendous job."
On A&M's defensive performance as a team…
"We just wanted to contain [Kentucky guard Rhyne] Howard. Of course, we wanted to hold her to 19 points-or-less, and while we didn't quite do that, we were able to tire her out. When you tire a player out, that keeps them away from the offensive boards. This is what this league is all about: great players. She's certainly the best player we've faced this year. Give her credit, but also give our defense credit for what Ciera Johnson did on their two post players. Our defense as a whole did well tonight, and we did well without fouling."
Senior guard Aaliyah Wilson
On the difference between the first and second half…
"At halftime, coaches talked about how Kentucky played harder than us in the first half. I think we did a good job of turning that page and hitting them first in the second half. In that fourth quarter we attacked them and were able to get up and kept pushing and were able to get a run. I think we did a good job of finishing strong."
On Jordan Nixon's performance in tonight's game…
"That is what is so special about this team, any given night anyone can give a good 20 points. Jordan can definitely score at will. She does that at practice and is in the gym every day. That is a testament to who she is and who is running our team. So, it wasn't a surprise obviously, we were excited and happy she started us off like that. We needed that for sure, and I think it gave us the spark that we needed."
Senior center Ciera Johnson
On the biggest difference between the first and second half…
"One, I think we took care of the ball a little better. We got more people involved, we were knocking down shots, and I feel like on the defensive end we were just competing a lot harder. Just trying to take away [Rhyne] Howard from them, even though she had 22 points she is a great player for them so that is just going to happen. I thought we did a better job on the defensive end."
On what a game like this can do for this team moving forward…
"It's confidence, we are very confident right now, but we know Arkansas every time we play them it's a dog fight. It's not going to be easy; we are happy about this win, but we are looking forward to how we can beat Arkansas."
On handling things down on the block…
"I can thank the coaches and my teammates for trusting me with the ball down in the paint, they just let me go to work down there. If their man came and doubled, then I moved without the ball and kind of got away. They just let me do my own thing. I owe it all to my teammates and coaches."
KENTUCKY QUOTES
Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On their performance in tonight's game…
"Give credit to A&M, they played hard tonight. They pushed the ball and transitioned offense and defensively they were switching it up. They were physical. We did not execute like we have been doing this season. We usually have a balance scoring, some shots we usually hit we didn't hit tonight. But also, we didn't run our plays all the way through. I also thought that we were a little too rushed. Credit to Texas A&M."
Junior guard Rhyne Howard
On what happened in the third quarter to change the momentum of the game…
"Definitely give credit to them for playing defense but I think we did get a little gassed and started taking quick outside shots instead of in the first half as we were taking it in and trying to get easy layups and stuff like that."
On how difficult it was to guard Texas A&M tonight…
"It was definitely tough for us seeing as they have a bigger inside, so we did stop doing the game plan. We were supposed to double down and a lot of times we got caught watching and just standing. Give credit to them, they are good and know how to work through each other. We just have to capitalize on what we know how to do."
FOLLOW THE AGGIES
Visit 12thman.com for more information on Texas A&M women's basketball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M women's basketball team on Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter by following @AggieWBB.
