Rashaun Agee had 18 points, 15 rebounds and was three assists shy of a triple-double to guide SEC-leading Texas A&M to a commanding 92-77 win over Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs were consigned to their third straight loss in a game they never led. Strong shooting by Texas A&M, who shot 38% from distance and impressively made 19 of 20 free throws, certainly came into play.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Agee paced a quintet of Aggies in double figures, which included Ali Dibba and junior guard Pop Isaacs, who each hit three 3-pointers off the bench and finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.<\/p>\n
Georgia lost despite some strong performances off its own bench, including a career-high 13 rebounds from junior forward Dylan James to go along with 13 points.<\/p>\n
“I feel like we needed an energy boost,\u201d James said of his performance. \u201cSo, I think I just tried to give that. I try to do the same thing every game and come out with the same energy, but I feel like it was do or die this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs, still reeling from their close loss to Tennessee on Wednesday, looked completely unfocused to begin the game, contributing to a disastrous start.<\/p>\n
After Rylan Griffen and Somto Cyril exchanged baskets to start, the Aggies scored 20 unanswered points, making five of their first seven 3-point attempts on the way. Isaacs made two in 10 seconds at the end of the run after a James turnover.<\/p>\n
“I just think they came out with more urgency than we had,\u201d Blue Cain, who had 14 points, said. \u201cI really attribute it to that.”<\/p>\n
Georgia missed nine straight shots after Cyril\u2019s layup and did not score again for nearly six minutes until a floater by James made it 22-4 at the 13:42 mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That started a 13-4 run by the Bulldogs, which finally seemed to realize the situation, and a Kanon Catchings layup cut the deficit to 26-15.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M pushed the lead back to 15 on another Isaacs conversion from beyond the arc before Jeremiah Wilkinson made his first field goal, also a 3-pointer, at the 4:05 mark that brought the Bulldogs back within single digits, at 40-31, for the first time since the opening three minutes.<\/p>\n
After missing his first five shots, Marcus \u201cSmurf\u201d Millender hit consecutive threes that capped an 18-6 spurt by the Bulldogs that made it 44-41. Yet the Aggies scored the last seven points of the half to again push the lead to double digits.<\/p>\n
The teams opened the second half continuing to trade buckets, but Georgia did not get closer than six until a 9-2 run that showcased their ability to play fast and get into the paint. Cain and Wilkinson each scored inside before a James and-one cut Texas A&M\u2019s lead, which had once been 20, all the way down to 69-67.<\/p>\n
The Aggies responded, answering Georgia\u2019s comeback with a 15-3 burst of their own that settled the outcome. Agee was involved in 12 of the 15 points, assisting four times, including twice finding Dibba for 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re really, really connected, they’re tough,\u201d head coach Mike White said. \u201cThey spread you out with a bunch of shooters. I thought we did a good job against a high-level pressure team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decisive sequence was a familiar one for Georgia. Despite turning in a far better rebounding performance than what was displayed against Tennessee, Texas A&M\u2019s final field goal, a Dibba layup, came after the Aggies picked up three offensive rebounds on the same possession, putting the visitors up 13 with just three minutes to go.<\/p>\n
It was at that point that the crowd, which was decently sized despite the wintry weather outside, began to file out. James was still proud of the fans that showed up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the crowd tonight. They brought the energy no matter how much we were down,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, it’s the responsibility of the players to go out there and bring our own energy.”<\/p>\n
Texas A&M, picked to finish 13th in the SEC preseason media poll, remains in sole possession of first place in the conference after its 10th win in 11 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Georgia, after going winless in a two-game homestand, heads out on the road again for its next game on Feb. 7 against LSU. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs will need more contributions from their starters. Cyril has combined for just 10 points and five rebounds in Georgia\u2019s last two games, and against Texas A&M, Jordan Ross had one point and took only two shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys are resilient,\u201d White said. \u201cWe’ve got to clean up details, but our guys, they’ll be ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rashaun Agee had 18 points, 15 rebounds and was three assists shy of a triple-double to guide SEC-leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,41623,1770,61076,51879,23513,261,9371,51910,27635,27630,9093,41624,10118,9891,27624,9095,9969,4074,27628,154,9368,27,259,29,28,61077],"class_list":["post-145928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-american-football","tag-ball-games","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-moves","tag-basketball-positions","tag-champion-seasons-in-american-football","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-double-double","tag-former-southern-conference-teams","tag-former-southern-intercollegiate-athletic-association-teams","tag-gridiron-football","tag-indoor-sports","tag-lsu-tigers-football","tag-men","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-southeastern-conference","tag-southeastern-conference-football","tag-southeastern-conference-teams","tag-sports","tag-team-sports","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-aggies-football","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-three-point-field-goal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}