Missouri to tall for Aggies in 86-85 loss
COLLEGE STATION — You can’t teach height.
The Missouri Tigers have height. Texas A&M, for the most part, does not. And that was the deciding factor in an 86-85 Missouri win Wednesday night at Reed Arena.
“We couldn’t combat their size. I’ve coached a game where we literally tried as many on defense as we did to stop them and still couldn’t,” coach Bucky McMillan said. “We tried everything in that game to stop those guys from getting buckets at the rim to get the game in our favor.”
An ally-pop dunk by 7-foot center Shawn Phillips Jr. with 17 seconds left off a lob from 6-foot-9 forward Mark Mitchell proved to be decisive in a game that went back and forth in the final moments. Given a final chance with 4.1 seconds left, Aggie forward Rashaun Agee (13 points, 9 rebounds) was unable to get a shot up against Phillips, sealing the win.
After struggling mightily to score against Florida, the Aggies (17-7, 7-4 SEC) came out white hot in this one, hitting 11 of their first 17 3-point attempts, including 7 of their first 9. But Missouri (17-7, 7-4 SEC) dominated on the boards, pulling down 11 offensive rebounds in the first half to keep A&M’s lead to just 46-41.
“(Texas A&M) was scorching hot in that first half, man,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said.
Gates told his team to stick with what they had been doing, as the Aggies were almost certainly going to cool off. In the other locker room, McMillan was concerned that it was only a five-point game after shooting 65% in the half.
“I didn’t feel good at halftime when we shot a great percentage from the field and from 3,” McMillan said. “We couldn’t stop them and couldn’t combat their size.”
Texas A&M extended their lead to as much as 7 early in the second half, but the inevitable reversion to the mean came in a painful way, with the Aggies going 7 minutes, 21 seconds without a basket from the field.
“We had some good looks throughout that stretch that we missed,” McMillan said.
That dry spell allowed Missouri to go in a 20-9 run and push out to a 74-66 lead. One basket, which put Missouri up 72-66, came after forward Jamie Vinson pulled down a rebound and carelessly tried to make a quick pass, which was picked off by Missouri’s T.O. Barrett (17 points) under the basket and easily laid in.
“We had some guys…who weren’t doing the small things very well tonight,” McMillan said.
A&M got back off the mat with a pair of 3-pointers from Jacari Lane (6 points) and Zach Clemence (20 points), followed by a contested layup by Clemence to cut Missouri’s lead to one.
The Aggies went back ahead 80-79 with 4:57 remaining after a uncontested layup by Marcus Hill (8 points). The lead would never be more than one point either way for the remainder of the contest, with Clemence taking on an unexpected role as a low post scorer to give A&M the lead back twice.
Rylan Griffen (17 points) having a 3-pointer that would have given A&M a 4-point lead go halfway down and come out.
On the final play, Gates said both he and his players knew the ball would be going to Agee for the game-winner. The forward had scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime and had success in the blocks late in the game.
“You’re down one, you absolutely, draw it up that way, for Agee,” he said. “We kind of knew what was going on, especially when they put two guards. That confirmed it when they put the two guards away to allow him to have that entire side of the court.”
Even though his team showed tenacity in keeping the game close against an opponent that scored 56 points in the paint, McMillan was uninterested in moral victories.
“I feel that we will find things on this tape where we could have took a possession away with sheer physicality or scrap,” he said. “I think that we could find a possession here or there (that could have been better). It’s not about a missed shot.”