After three lousy performances in a row, the Texas A&M basketball team dumped a hot K-State squad this weekend. Now, can they show the same energy Wednesday against nationally ranked LSU?
Saturday night, the Aggies (8-10, 1-5 SEC) showed that they are capable of playing hard and playing very strong defense throughout an entire game. That was something we hadn’t seen in a little while from the team. The past few games would have you thinking the Aggies didn’t care much about winning or losing. The effort late in games was pitiful and the team seemed to be in an uncontrollable downward spiral. That, however, changed Saturday with the Aggies' performance against a solid Kansas State (15-5, 5-2 Big 12) team.
The Aggies played a decent first half to keep themselves in the game, then came out swinging after the break. Wendell Mitchell quickly began turning defense into easy offense over and over again and the team fed off of his energy throughout the second half in a spirited comeback victory over the Wildcats 65-53.
The difference between this game and the past few games for the Aggies was the energy the team came out with and played with throughout the game. Where their energy was next to nothing in the past few games, they looked like as if they were really enjoying playing in an up-tempo, 3-point heavy offense. The thing is, it is easy to have fun and bring energy when the game is close and the team is playing well. It’s another story when the team is looking adversity straight in its face, which normally doesn't happen when you shoot 51% from the floor.
Ultimately, this energy helped Texas A&M play great defense, forcing the Wildcats to shoot around 33% from the field. The Aggies play on the defensive side of the ball brought a lot of easy offense on the other side of the ball. The Aggies shot tremendously, posting a 51% shooting night from the field and a 40% mark from beyond the three-point line. Wendell Mitchell had a cool 22 points in a night where the second-leading scorer, TJ Starks, only scored 12.
Mitchell’s play of late has been nothing short of impressive and I also think his play sparked a lot of the energy the Aggies played with in Saturday’s win. Looking beyond the 20 turnovers committed by the Aggies in the game, they played with a lot more fire and shot the ball a lot better than they have been. It’s going to be exciting to see if the Aggies come out with the same type of energy Wednesday against No. 19 LSU (16-3, 6-0 SEC) in Reed Arena. Get a win in that one, and a mid-season turnaround becomes a lot more feasible.
