By Jonathan Lidskin
There are 364 teams in college basketball this season. Let’s say that on November 3rd, 2024, someone came up to me and said, “Hey, I am looking to get into college basketball this year. What team should I watch that will get me excited about the sport?” I’m not sure Texas A&M would’ve been one of the first 100 teams that crossed my mind (unless of course, that person specified that they enjoyed missed shots and rebounding).
Over the past couple of seasons, Texas A&M has received its’ fair share of criticism for its style of play. Their scoring methods have consisted of a point guard taking a lot of shots and other players rebounding those shots. In summary, the offensive plan has been “We will take more shots than you (free throws included) and it does not matter the type of shots those are”.
On the defensive end, the Aggies have struggled in the past to turn it on until conference play which is why you will see weird gaps in where they rank in conference vs. overall. This year though, the team was ready from the jump. So what happens when you combine a consistent defense with an improved offense? Well, you get a way more efficient basketball team, and that showed last night at Oklahoma.
The Sooners were undefeated on the season up until five days ago. Whether you want to question what that undefeated record said is totally up to you. However, last night was still a road game in conference play and Buzz Williams was without his best player in Wade Taylor lV. If I had told you in previous years that A&M would have to play a road game against a solid SEC team without Taylor and they were going to give up 1.22 points per possession, you would’ve told me the %chance for an Aggie victory was a single-digit number. Texas A&M won the game 80-78, coming back from down 18 in the second half.
Don’t get me wrong, there were parts of last night that showed that A&M isn’t putting on these culture shocks. The Aggies' win still came on the back of offensive rebounding and they only had 11 assists in the game. However, without Taylor, other guys stepped up. Zhuric Phelps was heroic as he hit six threes and finished with 34 points. The team made 77% of their free throws (they’ve sat around 70% between this season and last). Even relative to their changed identity this season that result was eye-opening.
I bought stock earlier this season in Texas A&M and I am very glad that I did. The Aggies might not be flashy and they might not be visually pleasing, but they are more adaptable than they’ve been in previous seasons.