Aggies Men's Hoops Downs DePaul Blue Demons 82-66

The DePaul Blue Demons hoped to keep their perfect record at home intact while playing short-handed against the Aggies on Black Friday.

Behind a career-high 31 points from Tyrece Radford and another 21 from Wade Taylor IV, the Aggies maintained a double-digit lead through much of the second half despite finding foul trouble early to beat the DePaul Blue Demons 82-66 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

The Aggies were without Hayden Hefner, who is still nursing an injury, but the Blue Demons were plagued by injury too, missing three players, and suiting up just eight to play on Friday.

Radford hit two early 3-pointers that gave the Aggies an 8-3 lead to start the game although being just 1-of-15 from deep on the season.

The Aggies defense clamped down on DePaul shooters, holding them to just 30.0 percent shooting in the first half, as A&M held a 38-27 lead at the break.

The Blue Demons were forced into nine first-half turnovers and just 3-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.

Fresh off a 25-point performance in a loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday, DePaul forward Eral Penn had 15 at the half on 5-of-8 shooting. A&M guard Tyrece Radford matched him with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

In the second half, DePaul made a surge, as the Aggies started missing some shots and got in foul trouble early. 

Javan Johnson made back-to-back 3-pointers with about 13 minutes remaining that briefly got the Blue Demons to within single digits, but Wade Taylor IV hit a long jumper for the Aggies to get the lead back to 11 at 51-40.

A&M pulled away and kept DePaul at arm's length for the rest of the half with an aggressive defense even while in foul trouble.

Henry Coleman III was the only other Aggie in double digits with 12, while also chipping in six rebounds. Taylor IV also had six steals while Andersson Garcia and Dexter Dennis pulled down seven rebounds apiece.

Penn led the way for the Blue Demons with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Umoja Gibson scored 13 points and tossed 10 assists. Johnson scored 10 before fouling out in the second half.

Next up for the Aggies are the SMU Mustangs at Reed Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on ESPN+.

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