Turnovers, Poor Foul Shooting Plague Aggies in 68-64 Loss To TCU In Houston

The Aggies faced a familiar face with the Horned Frogs in Houston

After a stretch of 10 days on idle, the 7-1 Aggies men's basketball team returned to the court in Houston to take on the 7-1 TCU Horned Frogs at the Toyota Center on Saturday as part of the Battleground 2k21. TCU won a sloppy game 68-64.

Emmanuel Miller, A&M's leading scorer from a season ago, is now with the Frogs and faced the Aggies for the first time. 

The Aggies were riding a three-game winning streak after beating New Orleans 85-65 at Reed Arena last week while TCU entered the game coming off a 76-62 win over Utah on Wednesday. This was the 166th time the two programs have met, but just the second since 1996.

Marcus Williams led all Aggies scorers with 16 points. Guard Quenton Jackson chipped in 13 points, two rebounds, and one assist, and Tyrece Radford helped with 10 points and six rebounds.

Turnovers were the story on Saturday for both teams as sloppy play dominated the evening. The Horned Frogs committed 15 turnovers to A&M's 18. TCU led by as many as 12 points in the first half, before settling for a 33-23 lead at the break.

The Aggies could not find their rhythm at the charity stripe and it ultimately cost them late in the game as missed free throws prevented A&M from closing the gap late in the game. The Aggies shot just 44.4-percent from the line with 8-of-18 shooting.

Down by 10 at the half, the Aggies started the second frame on an 9-2 run that put them within three at the 14:19 mark at 35-32, and then A&M was able to tie it at 35 with 12:50 remaining. 

Each team traded buckets, turnovers, and foul shots for the next 12 minutes until Hassan Diarra hit a step-back 3-pointer with just one minute remaining to bring the Aggies to within two at 61-59. But TCU's but Damion Baugh made two free throws with 25 seconds remaining to give the Frogs a four-point lead.

The Aggies would foul the rest of the way but TCU kept pace at the line on the way to the 68-64 victory.

The Horned Frogs had four players with double-digit points. Chuck O'Bannon Jr tossed in a game-high 18, Emmanuel Miller had 13, Mike Miles dropped in 12, and Eddie Lampkin had 10 while also pulling down 10 rebounds for the double-double.

A&M was scheduled to face Tulane on Dec. 14, but the Green Wave were forced to cancel their next two games due to a team-wide COVID outbreak. So instead, the Aggies will face Oregon State on Dec. 18 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.

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