The cliché says that consistency is key.
In theory, a full 40 minutes night after night could help the Aggies unlock a path to March.
The quest for consistent play continues on Thursday as Texas A&M (1-0) hosts Texas Southern (0-1) at Reed Arena. Tip is set for 7 p.m. CT.
“We’ve got to get the total intensity up to where it’s sustained for 40 minutes,” A&M head coach Bucky McMillan said Monday night. “That’s got to be the key. I’ve never had a team, though, for what it’s worth, that’s had that in the first game of the year. This team is way further ahead than I would’ve expected.”
That said, early reviews of “Bucky Ball” are pretty positive.
The Aggies scored 98 in Monday’s opener vs. Northwestern State — a higher point total than any game last season.
A&M’s frantic, unrelenting style of defense forced 16 turnovers, which turned into 24 points.
Further, they did all that with Pop Isaacs playing in his first collegiate game in over 11 months and forward Mackenzie Mgbako still on the shelf.
“We were really pretty decent, considering all factors,” McMillan said. “First game of the year, it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been better. I think that the focus that we’ve got to get to is there was a lull in that game for about eight minutes. If you just picked apart the 40 minutes, there’s just some kind of lull there.
“We’ve got to get to where we can play that for 40 minutes of just high-intensity, high-pressure defense and offense on the other team.”
Spanish sharpshooter Rubén Dominguez leads the Ags with 18 points off a 5-for-8 shooting performance vs. Northwestern State.
However, Dominguez doesn’t have to consistently lead the way. Instead, the consistent them will be somebody — whether it be Dominguez or Marcus Hill or Zach Clemence or Rylan Griffen or Josh Holloway or insert-name-here — thriving on any given night.
“We’ve got a deep team,” McMillan said. “Not because we’ve got 10 guys on the NBA Draft board right now. We’ve got 10 solid, good players. That’s what we’ve got, so therefore, it’s going to be different people’s nights every other game.”
Figuring out who to focus on could be a problem for Texas Southern, though the Tigers figure to have plenty of those this winter.
Picked to finish fifth in the SWAC, TSU suffered a 55-point loss at No. 21 Gonzaga earlier this week.
In that 98-43 defeat in Spokane, not a single Tiger reached double figures as graduate guard Jaylen Wysinger and graduate forward Duane Posey scored eight each.
Yet Aggies know all too well not to overlook Texas Southern.
“It’s not just good enough to win,” McMillan said. “You’ve got to win by certain amounts for the tournament and the computer rankings and all that for the NCAA Tournament. We’re playing for the long game here.”
In Billy Kennedy’s final season, the Tigers came into Reed Arena and upset A&M, 88-73, on Dec. 18, 2018.
Avoiding such a fate would be another step towards finding the key known as consistency.
