Texas A&M fell to SMU 93–80 in a rollercoaster of a game where the Aggies allowed the Mustangs to tie the score with under 40 seconds remaining due to poor ball handling, ultimately continuing into an overtime defeat that snapped their five-game winning streak.
As the saying goes, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. A&M wants to play aggressively and shoot a high volume of threes, but that strategy put them behind the curve in the first half. They shot a dreadful 27.3% from the field and just 6.3% from beyond the arc, numbers that make it difficult for any team to compete and led to them being outscored 41–27 through the opening 20 minutes. However, they stormed back to make it a contest and displayed character that had not been evident earlier this season.
“We kept chipping away. We were shooting astronomically bad from three in the first half. Stayed with what we do. Came all the way back, and the good part is we had a four-point lead with the ball with 45 seconds left.”
Even though there was some growth shown in the loss, Coach Bucky McMillan knows that a performance like tonight will not suffice as SEC play approaches.
“There’s no way for me to say that. You’ve got to close it out. We ended the game with three straight turnovers. It’s hard to win when you do that versus a good team. “
You can view the entire postgame radio interview with Coach Bucky below:
Texas A&M will be back home to face the Jacksonville Dolphins at Reed Arena on Sunday, December 14, at 6 p.m. CT. The game will air on the SEC Network.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.
This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M HC Bucky McMillan speaks after the 93-80 loss to SMU
Reporting by Jarrett Johnson, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
