Outlook for Texas A&M Basketball Brightens after Win in Baton Rouge

Is The Win Over LSU The Beginning of Getting Texas A&M Basketball's Season Back on Track?

Texas A&M basketball notched a sorely-needed 73-69 win today over the LSU Tigers down in Baton Rouge. Things started off pretty slowly for the Aggies, who remained scoreless through the first four minutes of the game, allowing the Tigers to jump out to a 9-0 start. It wasn't until a jumper from Henry Coleman, returning to action after missing the last game, with 15:42 left that the Aggies finally scored.

By half, however, things were much closer at 35-33. The Aggies had scored all those points even without the help of Wade Taylor, who did not find the bottom of the net in the first half. Tyrece Radford and Jace Carter picked up some of the slack as far as scoring in the first 20 minutes, and Andersson Garcia knocked down two three-pointers.

For however key Taylor's second half scoring explosion of 19 points was to lift the Aggies over the home team, Garcia really was one of the stories of the game. This team has a lot of warts, but the offensive rebounding is relentless, and he's a huge part of that.

The aforementioned warts, though, were once again on display. Poor three point shooting and three point defense almost sunk the Aggies, and it was only LSU going cold from beyond the arc that kept things chugging along. The free throw percentage was unacceptable: you aren't going to win a lot of games going 55% from the charity stripe. The 8 turnovers forced is far too low a number for a squad that is supposed to be predicated on defense; and with the way the Aggies play, they need to be.

Looking forward, the Aggies have a chance to string together some wins. A three-game homestand versus Mizzou, Ole Miss, and Florida should be one that a team like the Aggies emerges from at 3-0; however, the wild variance in quality of play we continue to see out of this squad seems to make that an unlikely proposition.

If they can pull off that record over these next three, though, I'll start to believe again. This season isn't dead in the slightest; there's just lots of reasons for worry that don't seem to be turning around. The good thing is that there's plenty of time to figure those things out.