Texas A&M Basketball: Aggies Lose Third Straight, Fall to South Carolina

By Fansided and Kyler Palmer/FanSided via Gig Em Gazette
Published

Looking for, not only a rebound after falling to Kentucky, but their first conference win of the season, the Texas A&M Basketball team traveled to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks.

After falling to the Gamecocks last year, the Aggies went on a historic Sweet Sixteen run. The team went to Columbia, South Carolina seeking revenge and Billy Kennedy’s 108th career win at Texas A&M. After a hard-fought battle the 79-68 loss dropped the Aggies record to 8-6 overall and 0-3 in SEC play.

The result of today’s game has some Aggie fans are losing faith in the ball club. This begs the question, what exactly is “wrong” with the team as is?

Youth

After losing four seniors from last year’s team, this year’s squad relies on J.C. Hampton and Tavario Miller to fill the senior leadership positions. The sophomore class is represented the most on the team with eight players followed by the freshman class with five. Thirteen of the sixteen team members are sophomores or freshmen.

More from Gig Em Gazette

    Turnovers

    With youth comes error. Lack of ball movement and athleticism has forced A&M to commit 167 season turnovers heading into the matchup against the Gamecocks. Today, the Aggies tallied 25 more making the number of turnovers on the season 192. These mistakes should become less abundant as time progresses, but a a rate of 12 a game is too high.

    Inconsistent Stars

    In the most critical moments who do the Aggies turn to for big plays on the offensive end? Today that player was DJ Hogg. Hogg went 9-13 and racked up 25 points to lead the team in scoring. However, Hogg went 1-7 from the field Tuesday against Kentucky chipping in only three points. This makes Aggies wonder, who is capable of “clutch” plays?

    Inattentive Perimeter Defense

    Momentum killing three point shots seem to be a commonality among Aggie opponents so far this season. South Carolina went 9-25 today from beyond the arch, with a majority of those makes happening when the game was tight. Although that’s not the best shooting percentage ever, the made shots came at the right time for Gamecocks, in turn, leading to an Aggie loss.

    What’s Next?

    Texas A&M is still looking for their first conference win. The Aggies will host LSU on January 11 in College Station followed by a road trip on January 14 to Starkville in a contest against Mississippi State.

    ***Stats provided by ESPN***