Aggies Rally Late, Defend Home Court Against Vanderbilt

The same day that it was left out of the SEC's losing effort in the Big-12 Challenge, Texas A&M hosted Vanderbilt and put together a winning-effort of its own to add another win to its postseason resume.

With the student section striped in pink, Texas A&M came out to its home court Saturday night both to “BTHO” breast cancer and Vanderbilt — as the student section would have let you know.

Though the latter was in the air for 37 of the 40 minutes of play for the Aggies, the No. 2 team in the nation in free throws made per game did its thing once again, knocking down multiple free throws down the stretch to earn a 72-66 win over the Commodores.

Vanderbilt took advantage of a seemingly out-of-sorts defense for Texas A&M that allowed the Commodore offense to out-shoot, out-make and out-bench the Aggies — 25 of its 34 points coming from bench players. After making six shots from behind the arc, led by junior forward Myles Stute, who scored four, Vanderbilt took a 4-point lead to halftime, taking away the Aggies’ rhythm and momentum they had hoped to create at home.

Out of the break, however, the Aggies began to fire on all cylinders. Four different players contributed to an early 11-4 run — guard duo Tyrece Radford and Dexter Dennis, along with forward duo Julius Marble and Henry Coleman III each scoring at least two points.

As the half progressed, Stute continued to build on his 16-point first half, draining a pair of threes to keep the lead just out of the reach for Texas A&M, but Coleman served as a spark plug for Texas A&M, finishing with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds on the night.

Though fouls proved costly for both teams, Texas A&M had more to show for it, losing Marble at the three-minute mark with just a 1-point lead.

After Marble’s exit, forward Andersson Garcia made his presence known. The 6-7 junior finished with eight rebounds — the most across both teams — and grabbed two offensive boards to give the lead back to Texas A&M after Vanderbilt tied the score at 66.

From there, the free throws spoke for themselves. Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV sank two more to extend the Aggies’ lead to 4 points, followed by another from Coleman. And then another. Garcia. When the second-half buzzer sounded, the Aggies had managed to knock off Vanderbilt and knock down 23 free throws — more than double attempted by the Commodores.

Even more to coach Buzz Williams’ delight, Texas A&M also managed to out-rebound its opponent once again — something that he is likely to emphasize ahead of his team’s next stretch of games.

With the win, the Aggies improved to 7-1 in SEC play — enough for third place in the conference. The team now sits behind Tennessee and Alabama, both of which are ranked in the top five and have yet to face off against the Maroon and White.

Every win until those meetings only continues to add pressure for Texas A&M — which it has proven it can handle, as seen against the upset-driven Vanderbilt team it faced Saturday — though the long-term question of how it will handle the added pressure of a likely ranked matchup with postseason implications remains to be seen.

But for now, the Aggies will look to their next game: a road trip to Fayetteville for the first of two season matchups against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

There, the Aggies will face guard duo Anthony Black and Ricky Council IV in hopes of adding a second game to the Razorbacks’ losing streak, while extending their own. Tipoff from Bud Walton Arena will be at 6:00 p.m.

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