Saturday’s loss to Michigan was a worst-case scenario for Texas A&M basketball, but it’s not the first time they’ve faced it. Even though they had plenty of help, the makeup of this team proved to be its ultimate limitation.
Coach Buzz Williams said after the game yesterday that the team was absolutely dependent on offensive rebounding to score. That’s a disaster waiting to happen against a team with two 7-footers on the floor the majority of the time. And yesterday, they faced that situation and were out-rebounded – out-rebounded badly (48-39). Andersson Garcia, Pharrel Payne and Henry Coleman were trying like crazy, as usual, but there was only so much they could do.
This was at least the fourth game this season where the Aggies had a double-digit lead in the second half and lost. Wade Taylor talked on Friday about how they had lost games when they got away from their recipe, and they did it again Saturday. When A&M got up 10, they started looking for the kill shot, the big 3. Manny Obaseki almost had one, and it was a good look. The next two were bad shots, and Michigan scored at the other end. They got greedy, and a bad-shooting team can’t do that.
A&M was having success when they were attacking the basket, even though that meant getting into the trees. Payne was absolutely dominant – 26 points on 10-13 shooting – and he was too strong for even Vlad Goldin. His last shot from the field came at the 9:59 mark. Taylor was having success getting to the basket, and he started shooting 3’s. The rest of the offense looked absolutely terrified at the prospect of taking a shot. Zhuric Phelps had several opportunities to get in the lane and backed off.
But that’s what they had to – go at the big guys. Goldin ended up with four fouls and could have been fouled out if A&M had either gone back to Payne or driven the lane. They didn’t, and he ended up with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.
A&M shot 38% from the field and 27% from 3-point range, making seven of 27 attempts. Five of the seven were from Garcia and CJ Wilcher; Taylor and Jace Carter had the others. When you can name all seven 3-point makes without looking, that’s a very bad sign. That also means your other guys threw up a ton of bricks. Taylor was 1-8; Manny Obaseki and Solomon Washington were both 0-2. In their case, it’s not necessarily that they shot, but when.
What killed them was the unwillingness to attack the basket and being willing to settle for jump shots. That’s what cost them against UCF, Oregon and Texas. No difference. They’re a bad shooting team, and if you’re not going to challenge at the hoop, you’re going to lose – especially if you get out-rebounded.
Michigan is one of the worst teams in the nation holding onto the basketball. A&M forced just nine turnovers and turned the ball over 7 times – six in the second half. That’s not going to hack it.
I have no idea why Hayden Hefner got so many minutes. He was -9 in the first half when he was on the court, and that was for nearly 10 minutes. When he came back out after halftime, Michigan went at him again. There’s loyalty, which is admirable, but then there’s not recognizing a problem. This falls into the latter category. If the reasoning was that Washington was in foul trouble, I would have played Carter more. He brings more defensively, and at least hit a 3.
Now, let’s get into the real BS of it all: the officiating. There’s no way in the world Michigan should have shot 10 more free throws than A&M did. None. But what was a foul on one end was not a foul on the other. Michigan was in the bonus with just under nine minutes left in the first half and more than 10 left in the second. The Aggies didn’t do anything they don’t normally do defensively, but were penalized for it at an unbelievable rate. The game changes with Taylor and Washington on the bench with two fouls. Washington would have had Roddy Gayle more often, and that likely would have stopped at least some of the torching he did to the Aggies.
But whatever Michigan wanted to do on defense, that was cool. So they beat the living hell out of Payne, Coleman and anyone else who went inside. A&M would still have to do it, but let’s be real here: Goldin should have been out of that game before Michigan’s big run. He hacked Payne repeatedly, and knocked Garcia and Coleman to the court at least once apiece with no calls.
There’s a reason Buzz Williams was screaming at them at the under 8 timeout in the first half, but they ignored him. And A&M got screwed.
But, at the end of the day, this loss just proved how limited this team was and how much had to go right for them to be successful. And at least some of that was by design, which is very frustrating.
So now what? SEC scholarship numbers will expand to 15 next year and right now A&M has Payne, Washington, George Turkson, Andre Mills, Chris McDermott, Jaylen Lee and Januz Ratowski returning. Then you have 4-star freshmen Aaron Glass, Jasir Rencher and Jeremiah Green signed. Glass and Green are guards; Rencher’s a small forward. That’s 10 players, and I highly doubt all the returning players will be here in the summer. It just seems far-fetched.
So you build around Payne and Washington – if Payne doesn’t decide to go pro or look for a bigger payday in the portal. He made himself a lot of money this past week. But they’re still thin up front, with McDermott and Ratowski being the other bigs, and Ratowski plays the Euro game – he likes to shoot from outside. Right now, Mills would be the starting point guard. Is Solo your power forward, or do you keep him at small forward?
They need a real power forward to team with Payne and they need experienced shooters. Not guys who shoot a lot of balls, but guys who MAKE shots. They obviously need some kind of change offensively, because they don’t seem to have a scheme. Their plays fall apart and they freelance way too much as a result. That helped make players less effective.
A lot of players regressed, at least statistically, year over year. Carter’s output fell from 6.9 PPG last year to 3.9 PPG this year, and his free throw percentage fell from 62.5% to under 40. Hayden Hefner got more time this season than he did last year and scored less, going from 5 PPG to 4.4. He didn’t make a 3-pointer in his last 11 games. Taylor’s output was, alarmingly, the worst of the three years he started. His point total was down 4 PPG and he had his worst shooting season from both the field and from 3-point territory. Offensively, Garcia was about the same, right at around 6 PPG, but he shot a lot more 3’s (but made a lower percentage). He’s forgiven, though, because he was hot late. But his rebounding fell way off, from 9.1 to 6.2 RPG.
Obaseki’s numbers were all down across the board, in scoring, percentage from the field and percentage from 3. His free throws, though, were way up. Henry Coleman? Same deal. 8.8 PPG last year to 7.5 this year. Lower makes from the field.
But, somehow, this team won more games. That’s due to their defense, their rebounding and their experience. But that’s not the way to make a consistent winner. They MUST improve offensively, and virtually everyone on the team regressed.
This was supposed to be the team that made a big run. It was supposed to be built that way. But it was built in a flawed fashion, with hope and practice film not transferring to the court during gametime. Nobody was tougher, and nobody tried harder. They were a top-20 team, and that was it. Now comes what could be a rapid rebuild, as it was three years ago, but it can’t be a repeat. They need better athletes, better shooters and a better scheme. Otherwise, this is where one season after another will end – if they’re lucky.
Coach Buzz Williams said after the game yesterday that the team was absolutely dependent on offensive rebounding to score. That’s a disaster waiting to happen against a team with two 7-footers on the floor the majority of the time. And yesterday, they faced that situation and were out-rebounded – out-rebounded badly (48-39). Andersson Garcia, Pharrel Payne and Henry Coleman were trying like crazy, as usual, but there was only so much they could do.
This was at least the fourth game this season where the Aggies had a double-digit lead in the second half and lost. Wade Taylor talked on Friday about how they had lost games when they got away from their recipe, and they did it again Saturday. When A&M got up 10, they started looking for the kill shot, the big 3. Manny Obaseki almost had one, and it was a good look. The next two were bad shots, and Michigan scored at the other end. They got greedy, and a bad-shooting team can’t do that.
A&M was having success when they were attacking the basket, even though that meant getting into the trees. Payne was absolutely dominant – 26 points on 10-13 shooting – and he was too strong for even Vlad Goldin. His last shot from the field came at the 9:59 mark. Taylor was having success getting to the basket, and he started shooting 3’s. The rest of the offense looked absolutely terrified at the prospect of taking a shot. Zhuric Phelps had several opportunities to get in the lane and backed off.
But that’s what they had to – go at the big guys. Goldin ended up with four fouls and could have been fouled out if A&M had either gone back to Payne or driven the lane. They didn’t, and he ended up with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.
A&M shot 38% from the field and 27% from 3-point range, making seven of 27 attempts. Five of the seven were from Garcia and CJ Wilcher; Taylor and Jace Carter had the others. When you can name all seven 3-point makes without looking, that’s a very bad sign. That also means your other guys threw up a ton of bricks. Taylor was 1-8; Manny Obaseki and Solomon Washington were both 0-2. In their case, it’s not necessarily that they shot, but when.
What killed them was the unwillingness to attack the basket and being willing to settle for jump shots. That’s what cost them against UCF, Oregon and Texas. No difference. They’re a bad shooting team, and if you’re not going to challenge at the hoop, you’re going to lose – especially if you get out-rebounded.
Michigan is one of the worst teams in the nation holding onto the basketball. A&M forced just nine turnovers and turned the ball over 7 times – six in the second half. That’s not going to hack it.
I have no idea why Hayden Hefner got so many minutes. He was -9 in the first half when he was on the court, and that was for nearly 10 minutes. When he came back out after halftime, Michigan went at him again. There’s loyalty, which is admirable, but then there’s not recognizing a problem. This falls into the latter category. If the reasoning was that Washington was in foul trouble, I would have played Carter more. He brings more defensively, and at least hit a 3.
Now, let’s get into the real BS of it all: the officiating. There’s no way in the world Michigan should have shot 10 more free throws than A&M did. None. But what was a foul on one end was not a foul on the other. Michigan was in the bonus with just under nine minutes left in the first half and more than 10 left in the second. The Aggies didn’t do anything they don’t normally do defensively, but were penalized for it at an unbelievable rate. The game changes with Taylor and Washington on the bench with two fouls. Washington would have had Roddy Gayle more often, and that likely would have stopped at least some of the torching he did to the Aggies.
But whatever Michigan wanted to do on defense, that was cool. So they beat the living hell out of Payne, Coleman and anyone else who went inside. A&M would still have to do it, but let’s be real here: Goldin should have been out of that game before Michigan’s big run. He hacked Payne repeatedly, and knocked Garcia and Coleman to the court at least once apiece with no calls.
There’s a reason Buzz Williams was screaming at them at the under 8 timeout in the first half, but they ignored him. And A&M got screwed.
But, at the end of the day, this loss just proved how limited this team was and how much had to go right for them to be successful. And at least some of that was by design, which is very frustrating.
So now what? SEC scholarship numbers will expand to 15 next year and right now A&M has Payne, Washington, George Turkson, Andre Mills, Chris McDermott, Jaylen Lee and Januz Ratowski returning. Then you have 4-star freshmen Aaron Glass, Jasir Rencher and Jeremiah Green signed. Glass and Green are guards; Rencher’s a small forward. That’s 10 players, and I highly doubt all the returning players will be here in the summer. It just seems far-fetched.
So you build around Payne and Washington – if Payne doesn’t decide to go pro or look for a bigger payday in the portal. He made himself a lot of money this past week. But they’re still thin up front, with McDermott and Ratowski being the other bigs, and Ratowski plays the Euro game – he likes to shoot from outside. Right now, Mills would be the starting point guard. Is Solo your power forward, or do you keep him at small forward?
They need a real power forward to team with Payne and they need experienced shooters. Not guys who shoot a lot of balls, but guys who MAKE shots. They obviously need some kind of change offensively, because they don’t seem to have a scheme. Their plays fall apart and they freelance way too much as a result. That helped make players less effective.
A lot of players regressed, at least statistically, year over year. Carter’s output fell from 6.9 PPG last year to 3.9 PPG this year, and his free throw percentage fell from 62.5% to under 40. Hayden Hefner got more time this season than he did last year and scored less, going from 5 PPG to 4.4. He didn’t make a 3-pointer in his last 11 games. Taylor’s output was, alarmingly, the worst of the three years he started. His point total was down 4 PPG and he had his worst shooting season from both the field and from 3-point territory. Offensively, Garcia was about the same, right at around 6 PPG, but he shot a lot more 3’s (but made a lower percentage). He’s forgiven, though, because he was hot late. But his rebounding fell way off, from 9.1 to 6.2 RPG.
Obaseki’s numbers were all down across the board, in scoring, percentage from the field and percentage from 3. His free throws, though, were way up. Henry Coleman? Same deal. 8.8 PPG last year to 7.5 this year. Lower makes from the field.
But, somehow, this team won more games. That’s due to their defense, their rebounding and their experience. But that’s not the way to make a consistent winner. They MUST improve offensively, and virtually everyone on the team regressed.
This was supposed to be the team that made a big run. It was supposed to be built that way. But it was built in a flawed fashion, with hope and practice film not transferring to the court during gametime. Nobody was tougher, and nobody tried harder. They were a top-20 team, and that was it. Now comes what could be a rapid rebuild, as it was three years ago, but it can’t be a repeat. They need better athletes, better shooters and a better scheme. Otherwise, this is where one season after another will end – if they’re lucky.
