No. 13 Texas A&M men’s basketball bounced back from a season-opening loss to dominate East Texas A&M, newly-renamed Texas A&M-Commerce, on both ends of the floor in an 87-55 win on Friday night. In his first game as an Aggie, senior SMU transfer guard Zhuric Phelps led the team with 18 points in its home opener at Reed Arena.
Here are a few takeaways from A&M’s first win of the season:
A&M shared the wealth on offense
No coach will complain about having a star player that runs the show on offense, but coach Buzz Williams has to be happy with the group effort he saw from the Aggies. Rather than one player dominating the stat sheet, A&M saw five players pick up 10 points or more, led by Phelps’ 18.
“I thought our guys received what we had to say relative to the things that as a staff we learned in Orlando,” Williams said. “I thought the staff did a really good job of being succinct in those lessons, not just in their words, but in what we showed our guys ... Some of the things that we have practiced, that we’ve shown, that we’ve talked about since Monday night was much more prominent tonight, which was a positive thing.”
The Aggies continued to attack the paint, adding 54 points around the rim thanks to the efforts of graduate forward Henry Coleman III and junior Minnesota transfer forward Pharrel Payne, who combined for 22 points. A&M hit a third of its shots from long range, with all five three-point field goals coming from graduate guards Hayden Hefner and Wade Taylor IV.
“I think me and [senior guard] Manny [Obaseki], we were just taking what the defense was giving to us,” Phelps said. “It was just giving us straight line drives, and we just took advantage of that. It was just the feel of the game, really.”
Twelve Aggies made their way into the game, with 10 tallying points. Senior forward Andersson Garcia played the most with 22 minutes. The only area A&M was outperformed came at the charity stripe, where East Texas A&M hit 8 of 11 free throws. The Aggies hit 14 of their own, albeit at a 56% clip. It was night where there wasn’t a whole lot to be nitpicky about.
“There’s a lot of good players on this team,” Obaseki said. “The coaches do a really good job of recruiting good players, but not only that, good, quality guys. Good, quality people that work hard. I think that’s our staple of this program and I don’t really find it surprising when I see five, six guys in double figures ... It feels good. I’m really happy for our players, my teammates, just being able to feel comfortable out there and go out and perform.”
The Aggies ramped up the intensity on the defensive end
For the second game in a row, A&M met an opponent with a heavy reliance on shots from beyond the arc, although East Texas A&M connected on just seven of 24 shots and failed to put together any sort of consistent offensive attack.
To the Aggies’ credit, they gave the Lions few opportunities to find the rim with a stifling defense that put pressure on them all night. Texas A&M came away with 11 steals, including three by Phelps. Hefner and junior forward Solomon Washington added a couple blocks each to protect the rim.
East Texas A&M gave the ball away 18 times and hit just 38% of their field goal attempts. The Aggies established themselves around the rim, outrebounding the Lions, 41-24. A&M turned 15 offensive rebounds into 25 second-chance points compared to none by East Texas A&M.
“That’s just our foundation,” Phelps said. “Playing aggressive, trying to force turnovers. Staying true to our foundation was the reason why that happened.”
Phelps can be a gamechanger on both sides of the ball
A&M fans had to wait a bit to catch Phelps in action after the Duncanville High School product missed the team’s charity exhibition at No. 4 Houston and season opener at UCF. Phelps rewarded their patience with an all-around performance that saw him lead the team with 18 points and 3 steals.
“He’s a really talented player,” Williams said. “I think his lack of reps in games thus far, his lack of reps in practice thus far — If you know his game, you saw some of that tonight. But you also saw a lot of what he can bring to us on both ends of the floor.”
He did it all against his younger brother, East Texas A&M sophomore guard Evan Phelps, for good measure. Zhuric could be found all over the floor as he showed off a relentless motor on both ends with five boards and a plus-minus of 24, tied for the team high.
“I played against him last year, but it’s a great feeling,” Zhuric said. “Shoutout to my dad. Without him, me and him don’t get there. Big shoutout to my pops.”
Phelps is another weapon in Williams’ arsenal that can impact the game in a number of different ways, much like his predecessor, G Tyrece “Boots” Radford.
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