The Texas A&M Aggies basketball team are officially missing Wade Taylor IV.
After a promising first half of shooting, including 3-pointers, the Aggies just ran out of gas in the second half with Kentucky putting on a 3-point show of their own.
As the smoke cleared, it's pretty clear that down the stretch against SEC opponents, the injury to Taylor IV is now seen as an urgent problem.
The Aggies have shown that they need Taylor IV as soon as possible
The resilency against the Oklahoma game was something special, but make no mistake about it -- the Aggies need Taylor IV back now.
The 3-point shooting ended up being a dud once again, with the Aggies shooting 23 percent from the line.
Their toughness and hustle couldn't break through, with the Wildcats getting hot from deep in the second half. The Aggies at some point are going to need an answer from deep, and with Taylor IV out, there's just not as much to turn to in that department.
However, it was a positive night for Zhuric Phelps -- who put up 21 points and seven rebounds. His production without Taylor IV has been important.
The fight that the Aggies showed in the rest of the second half must be the identity that they take with them. The need to remember this feeling now, as they just went toe-to-toe with a top-10 team at home for pretty much 40 minutes. The Aggies showed a strong first half outing against Kentucky, but their lack of 3-point options caught up to them in this one.
The Aggies will get the LSU Tigers at Reed Arena on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.