Aggies Cruise to 87-54 Win over ULM in Season Opener

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men's basketball team dominated the long-range shooting on both ends of the court to bank an 87-54 victory over the ULM Warhawks in Monday's season opener inside Reed Arena.
 
Texas A&M hit 46.2% (12 of 23) from 3-point range while holding ULM to 10.0% (2 of 20) on the other end. 
 
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV led the long-range brigade with 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 18 points. 

Junior forward Henry Coleman III added 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
 
Three more Aggies hit double digits in the scoring column, including junior guard Hayden Hefner (12), graduate transfer guard Dexter Dennis (11) and sophomore guard Manny Obaseki (10).
 
Midway through the first half, the Aggies made five consecutive field goals to stretch the lead from 16-12 to 29-14 with 8:50 remaining. Texas A&M's largest lead in the first half was 19 points before settling on a 45-31 advantage at the intermission.
 
The difference in the opening act was three-point shooting, with the Maroon & White hitting on 58.3% (7 of 12) while limiting the Warhawks to 7.7% (1 of 13).
 
Hefner paced the Aggies in the first half with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field, including 2-of-4 from long range.
 
The Aggies opened the second half with an 18-4 run, stretching their lead to 63-35 with 12:07 left in the game. The A&M advantage ballooned to 38 points when an Obaseki dunk staked the Aggies to an 82-44 edge at the 4:56 mark.  
 
The Maroon & White won its 22^nd consecutive season opener, improving to 4-0 in debuts during the Buzz Williams era.
 
The 87 points were the most for the Aggies on opening night since topping Savannah State 98-83 to start the 2018-19 campaign. The 33-point margin was the largest in an A&M season debut since a 104-64 thrashing of USC Upstate in 2015-16.
  
 
Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas A&M 87, ULM 54
Reed Arena (Bryan-College Station, Texas)
 
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES

• Texas A&M opened the 2022-23 season with an 87-54 victory over ULM Monday evening at Reed Arena.
• The last time A&M recorded 80-plus points in a season opener was its 82-53 victory over New Orleans in 2020.
• The Maroon & White extended its streak to 22 consecutive season-opening wins.
• The Aggies' all-time record between the two teams is now 6-1 with an undefeated 5-0 record at Reed Arena.

 
TEAM NOTES

• Head coach Buzz Williams is 4-0 in season-openers at Texas A&M and earned his 50^th victory while at A&M.
• Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Dexter Dennis, Wade Taylor IV, Solomon Washington, Henry Coleman III and Tyrece Radford for the first time this season (1-0).
• The Aggie bench scored 21 of the 45 points in the first half, while finishing the game with a total of 44 of A&M's 87 points.
• The Maroon & White tallied 12 3-pointers, which was previously done twice during the 2020-21 season. The Aggies' season high from last season was 11, done four times.
• Texas A&M held ULM to just 2-for-20 from 3-point range.
• The Aggies outrebounded the Warhawks 47-37.
• Texas A&M shot 51% from the field, limiting ULM to just 27%.

 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Five players finished in double figures with sophomore Wade Taylor IV leading all players with 18. Taylor garnered five rebounds and dished out two assists.
• A total of six Aggies made their debut in the season opener, including Dexter Dennis, Andersson Garcia, Julius Marble, Erik Pratt, Khalen Robinson and Solomon Washington.
• Junior Hayden Hefner led all players with 10 points in the first half. The Nederland, Texas, native, finished the game with 12 points and two rebounds.
• Graduate transfer Dexter Dennis logged 11 points and five rebounds.
• Junior Henry Coleman III led the team with seven rebounds and four assists to go along with his 14 points.

 
UP NEXT

• Texas A&M hosts ACU on Friday, Nov. 11 at Reed Arena at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Postgame Quotes


Buzz Williams
On Hayden Hefner's Performance…
"His confidence level continues to improve, yet he has such humility. His work ethic has continued to evolve in his time here at Texas A&M. He's always where he's supposed to be on the court. He can change this team when he's playing the way he's been playing."
 


Hayden Hefner
On the Team's Purpose…
"We're playing with pace and a lot more purpose on our mind. If you're gonna have the ball, make something happen with it. We're working on that every single day in practice. Practices are extremely competitive, it's a great place for everybody to work. I think we're going to take great strides in that area of the game." 
 
On the Team's Chemistry…
"We meshed immediately, if I'm being honest. All the young guys are cool. Everybody's able to take criticism. Nobody gets down on each other. We're realizing that we're all trying to help each other, and I think that's a great thing to have."
 
Wade Taylor IV
On Opening the Season…
"It's exciting. Second game we played at Reed Arena. The energy is there, the fans are there. We just have a different mentality this year, just to take one game at a time. Control what we can control."
 
On the Team's Focus…
"Just coming out, trying to see what we can do each night to continue to get better the next game is pretty much what we want to focus on."