COLLEGE STATION, Texas — RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
· Texas A&M defeated Arkansas, 86-81, Saturday afternoon inside Reed Arena.
· The Aggies improve to 13-2 on the season and 2-0 in the SEC, the best start since the 2015-16 season.
· Texas A&M is now 9-0 at home this season.
· A&M has won six of the last eight against Arkansas inside Reed Arena.
TEAM NOTES
· With the Aggies trailing, 24-14, with 11:29 in the first half, A&M went on an 18-4 run over the next 5:25 to take a 32-29 lead.
· A&M went on an 18-2 point scoring run in the second half to extend their lead to, 58-43.
· Five Aggies scored in double digits for the fourth time this season. A&M is 4-0 this season in games where five players score in double figures.
· Texas A&M’s offense eclipsed the 80-point mark for the ninth time this season.
· The Aggies used the starting lineup of Marcus Williams, Ethan Henderson, Henry Coleman III, Andre Gordon and Tyrece Radford for the third time this season (3-0)
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
· Quenton Jackson led the Maroon & White in scoring with 16 points and hauled in five rebounds.
· Henry Coleman III cleaned up the glass and led Texas A&M with nine rebounds. Coleman added 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
· Andre Gordon shot a perfect 5-5 from inside the arc and 2-2 from beyond to finish with 13 points. Gordon dished out a team-high four assists.
· Wade Taylor IV put up 11 points, his sixth game in double figured this season.
· Tyrece Radford scored 12 points and recorded five rebounds.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M takes on Ole Miss on Tuesday at Reed Arena at 7:30 p.m. The game can be seen on SEC Network.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Buzz Williams
Opening Statement…
“Huge win for our team. It’s the Einstein quote, ‘Not everything that counts can be counted.’ JB (Javonte Brown) has not played since the Dallas Christian game, and I thought his performance in the first half completely changed the game. Hass (Hassan Diarra) doesn’t play in the second half until the last minute and a half. I put him in, and he makes two free throws. I think JB’s attitude over the last two weeks has been phenomenal, and Hass, who played the lowest number of minutes he has all year, comes in and makes two free throws when our team was shooting about 50% from the line before that. If you look at the numbers, I’m not sure we can win a game based on these numbers. But, I thought our spirit, energy and fight that our guys played with, excluding the first six minutes, was fun to be a part of.”
On A&M’s close calls through the first two SEC matchups…
“We spent the first 45 minutes of practice on Thursday talking about how we could easily be 0-2 in SEC play. That’s not to be negative in nature. What I’ve talked to them about since Thursday afternoon has been all I want is what I can see, and what I can see is what’s in front of me. That’s all I was saying for the entire second half. We were up 17 with 17 minutes to play at Georgia and down one with 5.2 seconds left. I don’t know exactly what moment we were up 17 today, but it was in the second half. We did not close down either game very well. That we won, considering that they (Arkansas) had 20 offensive rebounds and we shot 53% at the free throw line, that is confidence building, because we have been in that position now and had success. That being said, we don’t absolve ourselves from the truth. Whether the truth is up 17 or down one, we tell the truth.”
Fifth-year guard Quenton Jackson
On his clutch 3-pointer in the final minute…
“I was thinking that I had to get a shot on the rim and not turn the ball over. I had to be focused on all the right things. Of course, I’m thinking that I have to make the shot, but I just took whatever my defender would give me. I saw him sagging off on my first attempt at a drive, and so I just pulled it when the shot presented itself, and it went in.”
Junior guard Andre Gordon
On Texas A&M’s recipe for success…
“I think it’s good that we can get a 17-point lead, but it’s also concerning that we lose our 17-point leads. I think it’s a good thing in the sense that, if we’re up 17, we’re a really good team. It means that we are playing really well together. I think we should be able to put two halves together. We’ve been a first half team at times, a second half team at times. We have to be able to play two halves to win the game. Then it comes down to free throws. You can’t shoot 50% at the free throw line and win a game. That being said, we won the game.”
