Texas A&M basketball hits two-game skid after Tennessee shoots them out of the gym
Everything seemed to be shaping up for Texas A&M basketball to take a huge step today against the Tennessee Volunteers. Reed Arena was packed, the Aggies had gotten their inexplicably bad performance out of the way earlier in the week, and their roster was completely healthy.
There was even some talk that Tennessee star Felix Okpara could be out for this game with an injury. That seemed like it could be big for the Aggies, given that it has far too often been the case this season that A&M is the one on the wrong side of the injury bug.
Of course, Okpara ended up playing, and the Aggies ended up not taking the aforementioned big step. It wasn't thanks as much to Okpara's dominant presence inside, though, as it was to the Volunteers' outside shooting.
The Aggies got off to a big start, taking a 6-0 lead that included some huge turnovers forced and dunks made by the Maroon and White. But it was the Volunteers' Chaz Lanier who made the Aggies pay on the other end, hitting six threes in the first half.
It was pretty back and forth the rest of the way, but every time the Aggies made a run, the Vols seemed to have an answer locked and loaded. It was disheartening for an A&M squad that, courtesy of Okpara's presence inside the paint, was unable to reliably drive to the rim throughout the day.
Things slipped away in the final moments of the game after the Aggies had cut it to two. This one will sting for a while, but there's no time to waste over this game; the Aggies have to head on the road to Gainesville to take on a top-five Gators squad in only a few days.
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