Following an impressive 96-85 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night at Reed Arena, Texas A&M head coach Bucky McMillan had an emphatic statement on the style of basketball he instills into his team.
McMillan’s suffocating style of basketball is not a sign of a coach getting too aggressive. According to the Mountain Brook, Alabama, native, he simply isn’t afraid of pushing teams to their limit. Texas A&M’s press defense has been a massive topic of conversation in the college basketball landscape, as the Aggies rank fourth in the SEC with 13.50 turnovers forced per outing.
Not only is Texas A&M forcing turnovers and applying heavy pressure, but they are also finding ways to score at a high rate on the other end, which has made McMillan’s style of coaching so difficult to stop. With just one regular-season contest remaining, the Aggies rank fourth in the league, averaging 88.3 points per game.
That is a sentiment of McMillan’s confident, yet gritty, coaching approach that has the Maroon and White competing for an NCAA Tournament birth in his first season at the helm in Bryan-College Station.
Here is what Texas A&M basketball’s head coach said about what he believes the sport is all about, after a hard-nosed victory on the hardwood against the Wildcats:
While there have been inconsistencies from Texas A&M throughout the season, after starting conference play 7-1, the Aggies have kept their name in the conversation for earning a postseason bid. That is thanks in large part to the success of ‘Bucky Ball’ in its first year.
Texas A&M didn’t work this hard just to get this far, however. The Aggies are facing another do-or-die contest against a conference foe, as they will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a matchup against LSU on Saturday night. McMillan’s squad squeaked past the Tigers with a 75-72 decision in College Station on Jan. 3, but they must play much cleaner if they want to escape Death Valley one step closer to March Madness.
Tipoff from the Maravich Assembly Center is set for 5 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: ‘I think basketball is a war’: Texas A&M HC talks mentality after win
Reporting by Dylan Flippo, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
