Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball lose in brutal fashion at home tonight to the Florida Gators, 86-67. With the loss the Aggies will fall to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in the SEC. With the win the Gators will improve to 17-6 overall, 8-2 in the SEC, and will take sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
Unfortunately, the Aggies were never in this game and lost in just about every category imaginable. We all knew a game like this would come eventually. When you shoot as many 3s as the Aggies do, a bad shooting night was bound to happen. They couldn't even make their two-point shots.
Texas A&M basketball hits rock bottom against championship-contending Florida Gators
The Aggies' first half could not have been worse. They only put up 19 points and didn't even get their third point until under 9 minutes to play in the half. Luckily they were only down 11 at half due to Florida's poor shooting. You knew that the second half would be better offensively, and it was. 48 points in a half against a defense like Florida is unbelievable— until you realize they gave up 56 in the same half.
Rashaun Agee did all he could being as undersized as he is. Despite the poor offensive performance, Agge still ended up with 8 points and 11 rebounds. The only other players that seemed like they cared down the stretch were Pop Isaacs and Marcus Hill. Both put up 17 points. Hill continues his streak of excellent play but had no support behind him as both Jacari Lane and Rylan Griffen had poor performance and Ruben Dominguez continued to struggle offensively.
Defensively, the Aggies did an excellent job containing Alex Condon to only 4 points, largely due to getting him in foul trouble. The rest of the defensive effort was piss-poor at best. The Gators still had 5 players score in double figures and let the Gators' leading scorer Thomas Haugh go off for 22 points.
The Aggies were simply outclassed in their own gym. A brutal punch of reality right across the chin. Bucky McMillan has far and away exceeded expectations so far this season, and we always knew that these last two games would be tough to win. The response to this loss will be what makes and breaks the season for the Aggies.
Texas A&M is still a tournament team as of now, but it could get ugly quick if they can't find a way to right the ship. The Aggies will remain home this week as they take host Missouri, a game that the Aggies will desperately need a win in, before traveling to Nashville to take on a Vanderbilt team that is coming back down to earth from their hot start to the season. If the Aggies can take care of business against Mizzou and beat both Ole Miss and Oklahoma the following week, they will be right back into a comfortable spot heading into the home stretch.
The Aggies are at an inflection point in their season. The Missouri game on Wednesday will be pivotal in the Aggies' success down the stretch. Check back on Tuesday for my full preview of the matchup against Missouri as the Aggies hope to right the ship and get back on track.