The vets come through
In recent close losses to Memphis and Wofford, veterans Boots Radford and Henry Coleman had very little impact on the course of the game on offense. Against Memphis in an 83-79 setback, Coleman had 12 points and Radford 8. In an embarrassing 67-62 setback at home against Wofford, Radford had 5 points and Coleman just 2.
It was a different story last night, as the Aggies erased a 15-point first half deficit to beat Northwestern State 64-52. Coleman dominated from the start and ended up with 24 points on 8-13 shooting (8-8 from the free throw line), while Radford ended up with 19 points on 8-10 shooting.
Point guard Wade Taylor IV has been the team's leading scorer in multiple games, but for the Aggies to succeed, their veterans have to step up. They did so last night, and will be counted on to do so more as the season enters conference play.
Impactful 0 points
New arrival Andersson Garcia played 16 minutes last night and didn't score a point. He missed his two attempts from the field.
But Garcia did a whole lot all the same. He had 6 rebounds, including 2 offensive rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal.
Coach Buzz Williams praised Garcia for his dirty work in an awkward way.
"Andersson Garcia, when you look at his box score, it's not appealing," he said. "When you look at his plus-minus, it's positive... He is always a positive."
Bench inconsistency
Garcia may have been a big contributor last night, but he was about it. The five players who came off the bench -- Garcia, Manny Obaseki, Andre Gordon, Solomon Washington and Hayden Hefner -- combined for a total of 2 points (from Washington).
Against Wofford, the bench contributed 25 points, and they added 27 against Memphis -- but 26 of those 27 came from Coleman, a normal starter, and Obaseki. The Aggies need to get more offense than Taylor, Coleman and Radford some of the time and Obaseki some of the time. That's especially true of the bench players.
A sign of defensive aggression
The Aggies have been inconsistent defensively just as much as offensively this year, but when they're on, they're really on.
During his time at Wichita State, guard Dexter Dennis was the 2022 AAC Defensive Player of the Year. In last night's win over Northwestern State, Dennis had two steals, giving him seven for the season.
That ties a career high for steals in a season.
