Texas A&M Basketball: 3 Takeaways from dominant win over North Carolina

2. Defense wins championships

The old football adage could be Texas A&M’s secret to success. The Aggies have not been a strong shooting team this season and their cold nights have been pretty bleak. But the team that took the court against North Carolina proved they don’t need to shoot the lights out to hang with the best of the best.

It was a complete team effort on the defense end, but none shined brighter than Robert Williams. The sophomore had a windmill dunk that was worth of the SportsCenter Top 10 against Providence. He followed that up with another “Did you see what that guy just did!?!” moment with this huge block against North Carolina in the first half:

The Aggies dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Tarheels 50 to 36. Texas A&M had five steals and blocked an unbelievable seven shots, including this one which all-but cemented their dominant victory.

Texas A&M stiffed North Carolina shooters from start to finish. They held North Carolina to 6-of-31 shooting from three (19.4 percent) and 33.3 percent shooting from the field overall. If that sounds impressive, that’s because it is. UNC entered the game shooting 36.6 percent from three and 46.1 percent from the field. The offense played a role in the defensive success, but the defense played a gigantic role in the Aggies’ huge win.