Texas A&M basketball just went toe-to-toe against the Alabama Crimson Tide, the No. 5 team in the country.
Obviously, a lot of arguments will be made with Wade Taylor IV not playing in the game, but the Aggies made a late second half push that was worth watching.
There's no doubt that Buzz Williams will rally his team after such a loss that cost them specifically at the free throw line against one of the best teams in the land.
Texas A&M must make free throws, plain and simple
There's no sugarcoating it.
If Texas A&M makes more than half of the free throws missed, there's a good chance they win against Alabama, even with Taylor IV not playing. The Aggies shot 28-48 from the line while the Crimson Tide shot 27-40 from the line.
The big guys from Texas A&M are going to want another shot to get those free throws in, because they had a solid chance to steal a win without Taylor IV in the game.
Taylor IV was missed in terms of perimeter shooting, and it finally caught up to them against Alabama by not having a confident shooter from beyond the perimeter. Zhuric Phelps was able to help that issue in the Oklahoma comeback victory, but the Aggies needed more against Alabama.
The Aggies have plenty of guys that can out-rebound bigs from most teams any night, but Alabama had quite an answer for Williams' game plan. That's not the end of the world, but the Aggies have to capitalize on one of two things: making free throws or offensive rebounding. They lost the battle in both respects tonight.
Give credit to Alabama head coach Nate Oats. He had an amazing and agressive game plan against the Aggies. Oats knew the offensive rebounding ability of the Aggies could hurt the Crimson Tide, and adjusted in the best way possible by winning the rebounding battle.
The 3-point percentage also suffered without Taylor IV in the game. The Aggies shot just 22 percent from downtown in the game, meaning that either the Aggies just have to shoot better on the free throw line, or they need Taylor IV to return as soon as possible with the Aggies about to play in some of the toughest stretches this season.