Tuesday, February 18
Starkville, Miss.
6:00 PM
Texas A&M
20-6,9-4SEC
54
at
70
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Mississippi State
19-7,7-6SEC
1
2
F
Texas A&M
31
23
54
Mississippi St.
30
40
70
Team Stats
AM
MS
FG%
.358
.431
3FG%
.348
.360
FT%
.615
.850
RB
38
31
TO
19
11
STL
5
17
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 7 Aggies Drop 70-54 Road Decision to No. 21 Bulldogs
Feb 18, 2025 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE – The No. 7 Texas A&M men's basketball team saw its five-game winning streak end with a 70-54 road loss to No. 21 Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday.
The Aggies could not hold the narrow lead they built going into halftime as they fell to 20-6 overall and 9-4 against SEC opponents, while the Bulldogs logged their second-straight win over a ranked foe to improve to 19-7 overall and 7-6 in league play.
Leading by a point after the first 20 minutes, the Bulldogs eliminated the lead with a quick 3-pointer and built a 10-point lead less than eight minutes into the second half. The Aggies made a run to get within four points with 9:35 remaining and again at 9:04 but that's as close as the Maroon & White could get as the Bulldogs took control with a barrage of late 3-pointers.
Senior Zhuric Phelps led the Aggies with 13 points and graduate transfer C.J. Wilcher and graduate Wade Taylor IV added 11 points. Other statistical leaders were graduate Andersson Garcia with 10 rebounds, his second double-digit effort in league play, Taylor with four assists and Phelps with two steals.
The Aggies were limited to 35.8% shooting from the field (19-53), their second-lowest effort of the season, and suffered 19 turnovers, which was the second-highest total of the year. The Bulldogs turned the turnovers into 22 points. Mississippi State managed just 43.1 shooting, but did damage at the free throw line as the Bulldogs hit 17-of-20 from the stripe. The Aggies earned a seven-rebound advantage on the boards, 38-31, and had an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Aggies took a narrow 31-30 lead into halftime, after fighting off an early seven-point deficit. Wilcher was the catalyst for the rally as he hit all three of his shots from deep and made a pair of free throws to score 11 first-half points. The Bulldogs earned a narrow 17-15 advantage on the boards and made 8-of-8 free throws to keep up with the Aggies.
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
No. 21 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Texas A&M – February 18, 2025
Texas A&M Head Coach Buzz Williams
Q: What did you see from your team offensively in the second half, and what did Mississippi State's defense do to stop you?
BW: "Yeah, they were great. They were great on both sides of the ball. I thought their defense for sure helped their offense. Similar to your question, I thought our offense really hurt our defense. We turned the ball over 28 percent of the time when we had it. That's a credit to Coach Jans, their staff and their players. They were tremendous. We're playing on a broken floor. They're scoring layups, they're scoring threes in transition and we're fouling in transition. It's just mathematically hard to overcome, and that's a credit to their plan and a credit to their execution."
Q: Coach, even with that, you were able to cut it down to four points a couple times in that second half, what did you think got you all to that point? Why do you feel your team couldn't capitalize on it?
BW: "Well, I thought the first half was probably more like what everybody probably anticipated, more of a rock fight. If you're outscored 17 points in the second half, there's probably some outlier stats. I think ours would be turnovers. There are different types of turnovers, but a lot of our turnovers in the second half were live-ball turnovers."
"I think in the scoring runs that you would mention in the second half, we didn't turn it over. That would be a portion of it. Then, there were times where we didn't turn it over. Occasionally, we would score but then on the other end, we wouldn't get a stop. We were okay rebounding the ball when they missed, but we didn't get our defense set. The pace was way too fast. They're playing faster than I think Coach [Jans] has played since he's been here. And, rightfully so, they're doing an unbelievable job. We accentuated that pace by kicking the ball all over the gym. Again, that's a credit to their plan, and the execution of their plan."
Q: Did you think Mississippi State's defense treated Wade Taylor IV any differently in the second half compared to the first?
BW: "I don't know if I would necessarily say different in regard to how Coach [Jans] has played four [Taylor IV] in the past. I do think he commands attention similar like the attention that 12 [Josh Hubbard] commands for them. You have to make decisions on how you're going to handle ball screens with 12 [Hubbard], how you're going to handle ball screens with 4 [Taylor IV] for us. Then, how you're going to play him when he's on the weak side. I don't necessarily, and I haven't watched it [the film] obviously, but I would say how they defended 4 [Taylor IV] was what I expected."
The Aggies could not hold the narrow lead they built going into halftime as they fell to 20-6 overall and 9-4 against SEC opponents, while the Bulldogs logged their second-straight win over a ranked foe to improve to 19-7 overall and 7-6 in league play.
Leading by a point after the first 20 minutes, the Bulldogs eliminated the lead with a quick 3-pointer and built a 10-point lead less than eight minutes into the second half. The Aggies made a run to get within four points with 9:35 remaining and again at 9:04 but that's as close as the Maroon & White could get as the Bulldogs took control with a barrage of late 3-pointers.
Senior Zhuric Phelps led the Aggies with 13 points and graduate transfer C.J. Wilcher and graduate Wade Taylor IV added 11 points. Other statistical leaders were graduate Andersson Garcia with 10 rebounds, his second double-digit effort in league play, Taylor with four assists and Phelps with two steals.
The Aggies were limited to 35.8% shooting from the field (19-53), their second-lowest effort of the season, and suffered 19 turnovers, which was the second-highest total of the year. The Bulldogs turned the turnovers into 22 points. Mississippi State managed just 43.1 shooting, but did damage at the free throw line as the Bulldogs hit 17-of-20 from the stripe. The Aggies earned a seven-rebound advantage on the boards, 38-31, and had an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Aggies took a narrow 31-30 lead into halftime, after fighting off an early seven-point deficit. Wilcher was the catalyst for the rally as he hit all three of his shots from deep and made a pair of free throws to score 11 first-half points. The Bulldogs earned a narrow 17-15 advantage on the boards and made 8-of-8 free throws to keep up with the Aggies.
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
No. 21 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Texas A&M – February 18, 2025
Texas A&M Head Coach Buzz Williams
Q: What did you see from your team offensively in the second half, and what did Mississippi State's defense do to stop you?
BW: "Yeah, they were great. They were great on both sides of the ball. I thought their defense for sure helped their offense. Similar to your question, I thought our offense really hurt our defense. We turned the ball over 28 percent of the time when we had it. That's a credit to Coach Jans, their staff and their players. They were tremendous. We're playing on a broken floor. They're scoring layups, they're scoring threes in transition and we're fouling in transition. It's just mathematically hard to overcome, and that's a credit to their plan and a credit to their execution."
Q: Coach, even with that, you were able to cut it down to four points a couple times in that second half, what did you think got you all to that point? Why do you feel your team couldn't capitalize on it?
BW: "Well, I thought the first half was probably more like what everybody probably anticipated, more of a rock fight. If you're outscored 17 points in the second half, there's probably some outlier stats. I think ours would be turnovers. There are different types of turnovers, but a lot of our turnovers in the second half were live-ball turnovers."
"I think in the scoring runs that you would mention in the second half, we didn't turn it over. That would be a portion of it. Then, there were times where we didn't turn it over. Occasionally, we would score but then on the other end, we wouldn't get a stop. We were okay rebounding the ball when they missed, but we didn't get our defense set. The pace was way too fast. They're playing faster than I think Coach [Jans] has played since he's been here. And, rightfully so, they're doing an unbelievable job. We accentuated that pace by kicking the ball all over the gym. Again, that's a credit to their plan, and the execution of their plan."
Q: Did you think Mississippi State's defense treated Wade Taylor IV any differently in the second half compared to the first?
BW: "I don't know if I would necessarily say different in regard to how Coach [Jans] has played four [Taylor IV] in the past. I do think he commands attention similar like the attention that 12 [Josh Hubbard] commands for them. You have to make decisions on how you're going to handle ball screens with 12 [Hubbard], how you're going to handle ball screens with 4 [Taylor IV] for us. Then, how you're going to play him when he's on the weak side. I don't necessarily, and I haven't watched it [the film] obviously, but I would say how they defended 4 [Taylor IV] was what I expected."
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