Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball earned their first win of the season tonight against Pittsburgh, 81-73. This was a game of runs. The Aggies had large leads in both halves, gave up both of those leads, but did their jobs down the stretch to earn the win.
We'll start with the good— Rashaun Agee and Ruben Dominguez. This team would be in a lot of trouble without these guys. Agee had another dominant double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Dominguez continued his hot shooting with 18 points going 5-10 from beyond the arc.
Jacari Lane stepped up in a big way tonight as well with 14 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals. He was the unsung hero of the night. The Aggies did a fantastic job as a team getting to the free throw line and making their free throws going 20-22 on the night. In contrast, Pittsburgh went 7-11 from the line. The Aggies also once again won both the turnover battle, the rebounding battle, and held the Panthers to only 31% shooting on the night.
Texas A&M basketball shows they're learning how to win in victory over Pitt
Here's the bad. This team was way too reliant on their top two scorers tonight. You have two stars in Mgbako and Issacs who only combined for 9 points. The only player off the bench that did anything notable was Rylan Griffen with his 9 points and 3 rebounds.
Once again, for the third time this season, the Aggies had a double-digit lead midway through the second half. They even went down 4 at one point, but they got it done down the stretch. Learning how to put away games down the stretch is going to be the biggest key to this team's success going forward.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, this win is currently only a Quad 3 game, as Pittsburgh would need to get within the top 135 in the NET rankings for it to become a Quad 2 win. The Aggies will face their last non-conference test this coming Sunday against SMU, in Arlington, as they look for their first potential Quad 1 win of the season.
Check back later this week for my full preview of the upcoming matchup with SMU.