Texas A&M pushes past Texas in 74-70 win

AUSTIN, Texas — An 11-2 run before halftime and a 9-2 surge after halftime provided all the separation that the Texas A&M Aggies needed to beat the Texas Longhorns 74-70 at the Moody Center on Saturday, ending an 11-game home winning streak for the Longhorns in the Lone Star Showdown.

Forward Rashaun Agee scored 17 points with seven rebounds and guard Rylen Griffen scored all 17 of his points in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting, including four made threes. For Texas, four players reached double digits, including 17 points from senior guard Jordan Pope and 17 points from junior wing Dailyn Swain.

Facing the A&M press, Texas only turned the ball over eight times, but the Aggies were opportunistic taking advantage of the mistakes, notching a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The deep bench for head coach Bucky McMillan’s team also told, as Texas A&M outscored Texas 20-6 in bench points as senior guard Chendall Weaver finished minus-16 and combined with junior guard Simeon Wilcher to go 1-of-10 shooting.

And although the Horns were able to limit the Aggies to eight threes, three and a half below their per-game average this season, A&M was able to get the ball into the paint with a 12-point margin over Texas in that category.

After allowing Agee to take and miss a three after the opening tip, an attempt to trap Texas graduate guard Tramon Mark just past the halfcourt line led to a skip pass and open triple for Pope that the senior guard buried. In a game that showed signs of physicality early, especially holding by the Aggies attempting to execute their pressing defense, Swain had a nice finish near the rim through uncalled contact. By the under-16 timeout, however, A&M had been called for three fouls as Texas took a 7-5 lead.

The Longhorns went cold from the field, however, missing eight of nine shots, but the Aggies couldn’t take advantage by settling for threes that didn’t fall as the home team did a strong job of forcing contested looks. By the second media timeout, the score was only 10-9, less offensive output than expected in what projected as a high-scoring game entering the contest.

Out of the under-12 break, the scoring struggles continued for Texas as sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis turned it over on a rare post touch and then got posterized by former Longhorns center Jamie Vinson on the other end. When Vokietaitis passed out of a double team, Weaver had his shot blocked at the rim. Weaver’s hustle earned an extra possession chasing a loose ball after a late-clock missed three by Pope. Another miss by Pope was the ninth straight for the Horns as the scoring drought reached five minutes, over which the Aggies had slowly amassed a 7-0 run.

After a shot-clock violation when Vinson wasn’t aware of the need to get a shot up, Vokietaitis drew a shooting foul and split his trip to the free-throw line to end the scoring drought for Texas. Able to break the pressure from A&M, Mark found junior forward Cam Heide in the corner to end the field-goal drought with a made three, followed by a strong drive by Mark to finish in traffic. Amidst some defensive rebounding issues, however, a second-chance opportunity for the Aggies produced a chance at a three-point play sandwiched around the under-eight timeout with A&M leading 16-15.

The brief offensive surge for Texas didn’t last with three straight misses on jump shots, but Swain was able to create off the bounce, using his elite crossover to produce a layup, only the third basket in the paint for the Horns. When Vokietaitis drew a foul posting up, it put Texas into the bonus, with the big Lithuanian converting both at the line and then finding space against the A&M zone to score at the rim. After a strong defensive rebound, Vokietaitis flashed a Euro step in the lane to draw another foul, another successful trip as Texas took a 23-18 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.

A baseline attack from Swain earned his own trip to the free-throw line as the fouls started to pile up on A&M, but the Xavier transfer split the trip and Texas allowed a driving layup late in the shot clock, then and a dunk on the next possession. Vokietaitis broke the mini run by the Aggies with a finish in the paint before Ruben Dominguez got free for his first made three-pointer of the game.

Sloppy fouls late in the half hurt Texas, including the second on Swain, and Dominguez made another basket to give the Aggies a 27-26 lead before a turnover on the inbounds pass by the Longhorns, one of the few mistakes against the press in the first half, precipitating a scuffle as A&M tried to inbound the ball. When a foul on Weaver sent the Aggies to the line, the two makes extended the late-half surge to a 7-0 run thanks to four straight made baskets, but Mark ended the opening 20 minutes with momentum by hitting a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 29-29.

The second half started poorly for the Horns as Vokietaitis turned it over trying to pass it out of a double team and Heide fouled a three-point shooter, giving up a four-point play. Mark responded with a mid-range jumper, but a second-chance opportunity for A&M resulted in a made three and a subsequent driving layup extended the lead to seven points, forcing a timeout by Miller at the 17:13 mark with the Aggies on a 9-2 run to start the second half and a 20-7 surge across halves.

Pope made the Aggies defense pay for playing zone, hitting a three, but Wilcher gave up a three and then got called for an obvious push off trying to get free against the press. A three-point play extended the A&M lead to 10 points before Vokietaitis scored through contact to cut into the margin at the under-16 timeout with a free throw pending.

Vokietaitis missed the free throw, leading to a sequence that looked like Texas at its lowest points this season — Heide threw the ball away trying to start a fast break and then gave up a driving layup. An alley-oop to Vinson, who dunked on Vokietaitis again, stretched the deficit back to 10 points.

Four straight points by Swain, including a steal that led to a breakaway dunk that sent the Moody Center crowd to its feet, quickly cut into that deficit, but he couldn’t convert another opportunity at the rim and Pope fouled a three-point shooter on the other end, sending miller to one knee pounding the floor with his hand. Dominguez made all three. At the under-12 timeout, the A&M lead remained at 10 points.

Backdoor cuts were starting to produce easy baskets for the Aggies as the Longhorns defense broke down. When Pope hit a three to cut the deficit to six points, Texas committed a foul on the other end to send Rueben Agee to the line, where he hit both, and then finished through Vokietaitis to push the lead back to double digits with less than nine minutes remaining.

After Pope cut the deficit to six points again, Heide gave up a straight-line drive to the rim and good ball movement by the Aggies produced a three with 5:51 remaining that felt decisive enough for Miller to0 call a timeout two seconds later.

A ball reversal opened up a baseline drive by Mark for a layup out of the timeout, Pop Isaacs responded with a three, and Pope hit a step-back triple and was fouled for a four-point play to cut the deficit to six. Another defensive breakdown allowed a layup, however, as the Horns quickly gave back the momentum. Prior to the under-four timeout, Swain had the ball stolen in traffic and Weaver committed a foul to stop a layup down eight points.

If the earlier three by A&M wasn’t decisive enough, the late-clock triple hit by Jacari Lane to extend the lead to 11 points with 3:02 remaining certainly felt like it, prompting another timeout by Miller.

Texas didn’t give up, though, cutting the margin to three points with seven seconds remaining behind an 8-0 run. With a one-and-one at the line, A&M made the first, took a timeout, and missed the second, but the Horns only managed to get a final shot off, missing it to end the game.

Having missed two chances to secure two conference home wins as the win-expectancy favorite, Texas travels to face Kentucky on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.