STARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 25 Texas A&M men's basketball team dropped a narrow 69-62 decision to Mississippi State on Saturday at the Humphrey Coliseum.
The Aggies fell to 21-8 overall and 13-3 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Bulldogs improved to 19-10 and 7-6.
Trailing 30-28 at halftime, the Aggies quickly grabbed the lead in the second half and garnered a nine-point advantage in less than six minutes of play. But the Bulldogs responded to the challenge and chipped away at the Aggie advantage until regaining the lead at the 10:40 mark. It was a lead that they would never relinquish, and the Bulldogs kept at least a four-point lead for the final four and a half minutes of the contest.
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, led the way with 21 points as he connected on four 3-pointers and 9-of-10 free throw attempts while also dishing out four assists. Also in double figures were juniors Andersson Garcia and Henry Coleman III, who both scored 11 points. Dexter Dennis and Tyrece Radford tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
The Aggies hit 40% from the field with eight 3-pointers, but the Bulldogs attempted nine more shots while hitting 44% of their attempts. The Aggies were hamstrung by 16 turnovers and hurt by the Bulldogs' inside game that produced 34 points in the paint.
The two teams battled to a near deadlock after the first 20 minutes with the Bulldogs taking a 30-28 lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs had the advantage early with a nine-point advantage at the 13:13 mark, but the Aggies kept pounding the rock and were able to get within one point on Garcia's three-pointer from the top of the arc at 4:46. Garcia actually scored the Aggies last seven points of the half stay within a bucket of the Bulldogs.
Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes/Notes
Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 62
Humphrey Coliseum (Starkville, Miss.)
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On Mississippi State's style of play…
"I thought we were fine in a lot of respects. I think they played to who they are, better than we played to who we are. I think a portion of that is our turnover rate. We had eight turnovers in each half. We've had that many turnovers before, but that's well above our average. That's the slowest we've played in a long time. It's a little magnified because it prevents us from having an opportunity to get a shot. We shot the ball okay. Our offensive rebounds was below average, but when we turn it over and of those 16 turnovers, 10 of them were live ball. So now we're helping a team that probably is not known for their scoring as much as others. They're playing in a broken floor. It prevents us from getting a shot, but as important, it prevents us from getting an offensive rebound and it prevents us from getting fouled. So if there was one thing I would say that would be the thing that helped allow them to play to their identity, more than it helped us, because we were playing from behind. On the road we shot nine less shots and four less free throws and that's normally not what we do."
On Mississippi State's inside presence…
We didn't have the average performance that we typically have from everybody, but a portion of that performance is based on the number of quality possessions and there weren't enough quality possessions. If you're only going to shoot 43 balls, and that's a portion because you turn it over 16 times, and then you only get eight offensive rebounds and one of those was a team rebound, you're going to play from behind. We held them to 14% from three, 40% of their shots in essence were from three, so there was a lot of good stuff, but too often we didn't finish with the defensive rebound at the rate we normally do. So they're getting extra possessions and then on the other end we're giving them the ball too often."
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
TEAM NOTES
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Henry Coleman III
Dexter Dennis
Andersson Garcia
Tyrece Radford
Wade Taylor IV
The Aggies fell to 21-8 overall and 13-3 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Bulldogs improved to 19-10 and 7-6.
Trailing 30-28 at halftime, the Aggies quickly grabbed the lead in the second half and garnered a nine-point advantage in less than six minutes of play. But the Bulldogs responded to the challenge and chipped away at the Aggie advantage until regaining the lead at the 10:40 mark. It was a lead that they would never relinquish, and the Bulldogs kept at least a four-point lead for the final four and a half minutes of the contest.
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, led the way with 21 points as he connected on four 3-pointers and 9-of-10 free throw attempts while also dishing out four assists. Also in double figures were juniors Andersson Garcia and Henry Coleman III, who both scored 11 points. Dexter Dennis and Tyrece Radford tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
The Aggies hit 40% from the field with eight 3-pointers, but the Bulldogs attempted nine more shots while hitting 44% of their attempts. The Aggies were hamstrung by 16 turnovers and hurt by the Bulldogs' inside game that produced 34 points in the paint.
The two teams battled to a near deadlock after the first 20 minutes with the Bulldogs taking a 30-28 lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs had the advantage early with a nine-point advantage at the 13:13 mark, but the Aggies kept pounding the rock and were able to get within one point on Garcia's three-pointer from the top of the arc at 4:46. Garcia actually scored the Aggies last seven points of the half stay within a bucket of the Bulldogs.
Texas A&M Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes/Notes
Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 62
Humphrey Coliseum (Starkville, Miss.)
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Buzz Williams
On Mississippi State's style of play…
"I thought we were fine in a lot of respects. I think they played to who they are, better than we played to who we are. I think a portion of that is our turnover rate. We had eight turnovers in each half. We've had that many turnovers before, but that's well above our average. That's the slowest we've played in a long time. It's a little magnified because it prevents us from having an opportunity to get a shot. We shot the ball okay. Our offensive rebounds was below average, but when we turn it over and of those 16 turnovers, 10 of them were live ball. So now we're helping a team that probably is not known for their scoring as much as others. They're playing in a broken floor. It prevents us from getting a shot, but as important, it prevents us from getting an offensive rebound and it prevents us from getting fouled. So if there was one thing I would say that would be the thing that helped allow them to play to their identity, more than it helped us, because we were playing from behind. On the road we shot nine less shots and four less free throws and that's normally not what we do."
On Mississippi State's inside presence…
We didn't have the average performance that we typically have from everybody, but a portion of that performance is based on the number of quality possessions and there weren't enough quality possessions. If you're only going to shoot 43 balls, and that's a portion because you turn it over 16 times, and then you only get eight offensive rebounds and one of those was a team rebound, you're going to play from behind. We held them to 14% from three, 40% of their shots in essence were from three, so there was a lot of good stuff, but too often we didn't finish with the defensive rebound at the rate we normally do. So they're getting extra possessions and then on the other end we're giving them the ball too often."
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M fell to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 69-62, Saturday afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum.
- The Aggies drop to 21-8 overall and 13-3 in SEC play.
TEAM NOTES
- Three players finished in double figures for fourth straight game and the 13th time this season.
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Henry Coleman III, Dexter Dennis, Julius Marble, Tyrece Radford and Wade Taylor IV for the 20th time this season (16-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Henry Coleman III
- Finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.
- Logged double digit points for the 16th time this season and 38th of his career.
Dexter Dennis
- Registered nine points and collected seven rebounds.
Andersson Garcia
- Matched his season high in points after tallying 11 points.
- Finished 4-of-6 from the field, 1-of-1 from behind the arc and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
- Has made a three in each of the last two games.
- Logged double digit points for the second time this season and fourth of his career.
- Grabbed four rebounds.
Tyrece Radford
- Hauled in seven rebounds and dished out four assists.
Wade Taylor IV
- Led all players with 21 points.
- Drained four 3-pointers and finished 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
- Logged 20 or more points for the third straight game.
- Recorded double figures for the sixth straight game, while also leading the team in points in the last six games.
- Finished in double digit points for the 22nd time this season and 38th time of his career.
- Became the 21st Aggie to record 100 career steals.
- Dished out four assists.