ACU cut the Texas A&M Aggies lead to three in the first half before falling 77-58 on Friday night in Reed Arena in College Station.
Last year, the Wildcats lost to the Aggies 81-80 in double overtime. This year was a different story.
Despite the close 34-29 first half, the Aggies pulled away to a 16 point lead behind 25-35 shooting from the free throw line. In addition, the Aggies’ tenacious defense scored 31 off of 19 Wildcats turnovers. Meanwhile head coach Brette Tanner’s defense scored 15 off of 19 turnovers.
“We talked for two days about making this game ugly,” Tanner said. “We wanted it to be ugly. They did a great job and we were in the game. We talked about the first 4 minutes of the second half being really important and unfortunately we lost the first 4 minutes. You know, we got to do a better job of not fouling. I don’t think we fouled enough for it to be 35 free throws a 12. But that’s what you expect in these games.”
Forward Joe Pleasant, senior from Overland Park, Kansas, remained out for the Wildcats due to a head and back injury and will be out for the unforeseeable future. The starting five remained the same for the Wildcats –
- Guard Damien Daniels, senior from Kansas City, Missouri
- Guard Tobias Cameron, senior from Gold Coast, Australia
- Guard Immanuel Allen, senior from Phoenix
- Forward Airion Simmons, senior from Little Rock, Arkansas
- Forward Cameron Steele, junior from Excelsior, Minnesota
“We’re here to compete, to win a game,” Tanner said. “We’ve won games like this. We’ve been in games like this. And so we wanted to compete. And I think the guys did that. I think we can do better and we always make those mistakes early in the year. We did the same thing the other night and we will slowly get better.”
The Aggies started hot on a 15-3 and led 20-10 with 10:23 to play. Of the first 10 points for the Wildcats, Allen scored eight. ACU roared back to life and cut the Aggies’ lead to three, 28-25, on a quick 6-0 swing with 2:23 remaining in the half. To finish the half, ACU kept the Aggies’ lead to single digits trailing 34-29.
“These guys know what they have in the locker room,” Tanner said. “They got a bunch of competitors, man. Guys that fight their tails off. They play ACU basketball. Sometimes when you take chances in games like these, it can hurt you, but sometimes it gives you a chance to win as we’ve done before. They’re not happy. They’re disappointed.”
Allen led all scorers with 10, Cameron backed him up with seven and Steele followed with four. The Aggies scored 20 points off of 12 Wildcats turnovers compared to ACU’s 13 points off of 12 turnovers. From the floor, ACU shot 11-26 as the Aggies shot 11-20. The difference maker was the free throw line as the Aggies shot 11-18 with ACU shooting 3-4.
The second half was a different story as the Aggies quickly ran out to a 21-11 start to lead 55-40. With nine minutes remaining, guard Jae’Sean Jackson, sophomore from San Antonio, fouled out. A bright spot for the Wildcats was Simmons, who scored 15 with four threes. At the 2:21 mark, freshman guards JV Seat, from Edmond, Oklahoma, and Muodubem Muoneke, from Cypress, made their debuts. One minute later, Tanner’s son Colby checked in for his debut.
“I really planned on maybe giving them a shot earlier in the first half,” Tanner said. “And just the way that the game played out, there wasn’t an opportunity to get them in there. But they’re all doing a great job there. They know that their time is coming. But again, I owe it to them to make sure I don’t put them out there when they’re not ready.”
Now the Wildcats turn their attention to the Div. III McMurry Warhawks on Tuesday night back home in Moody Coliseum. In their history, ACU is 3-0 with an 89-54 win last year on Nov. 27. In total, the Wildcats have outscored the Warhawks 230-140.
“These guys will go toe to toe with anybody,” Tanner said. “Abilene Christian has been on the map for a couple of years now. It’s because of the guys in that locker room.”
The Wildcats and Warhawks tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Moody Coliseum and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
