Game #4: Central Florida 86, Texas A&M 74
Records: Texas A&M (2-2, 0-0), Central Florida (3-1, 0-0)
Box Score
It’s a new era with a new roster.
Yet the déjà vu feeling of another blown lead at Central Florida carried over.
In front of 9,099 at Reed Arena, Texas A&M (2-2) squandered a 14-point second-half advantage to the visiting Knights in an 86-74 loss.
Last year, the Aggies wasted a late lead in a 64-61 season-opening loss to UCF in Orlando.
“We struggled to finish that thing off, but we’re going to keep grinding,” A&M head coach Bucky McMillan said. “These guys got us last year down there. A&M still had a good year and went to the tournament. We got to learn. We’ve got to move forward. We got to keep plugging. … We knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”
A second consecutive defeat appeared unlikely as the Aggies stormed out to a 52-38 lead early in the second stanza.
Pop Isaacs’ 3-pointer kick-started a 17-3 run that was ultimately bookended by Rashaun Agee’s traditional 3-point play.
From there, UCF outscored A&M 48-22 as a Knight barrage from deep whittled the deficit until Riley Kugel’s layup tied the game at 63-63 with 6:36 remaining.
During the comeback, Jordan Burks connected from deep twice, but it was a pair of Themus Fulks freebies that gave the visitors a 67-65 lead they would not relinquish.
“I really felt in the game we had them where we wanted them,” McMillan said. “I really did. I felt that. I felt we were fresh in some spots and had them on the ropes.
“A championship team in that spot, they’re going to capitalize on all those and take the lead from 14 to 18, and that’s all she wrote. We were unable to do that.”
Carmelo Pacheco’s three second-half 3-pointers helped the Knights pull away as his trey with 2:42 sent many Maroon-clad supporters to the exits as UCF went up 78-67.
Not even a flagrant foul against Burks could save the Aggies as Chris McDermott missed both free throws, and A&M turned the ball over on the ensuing possession.
“We’re asking some players to do a little more than probably they thought they’d have to do at the end of the game,” McMillan said. “Those guys did about all they could. … I don’t blame some of those situations or anything on anybody.”
Burks was indeed the star, scoring a game-high 21 points to lead a quartet of Knights in double figures. Of his output, 18 came in the second half as the 6-foot-9 forward was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from long range in the final period.
Led by Marcus Hill’s 14, six Aggies also reached double digits, but A&M shot the 3-pointer significantly worse than UCF — 9-of-29 compared to 14-of-28.
In the second half alone, the Knights were 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from deep.
A&M even struggled at the rim, scoring just eight of 20 layup attempts.
“In the flow of the game, you feel the misses,” McMillan said. “I know we’re better than that. It’s as simple as that.”
Perhaps most frustrating is that A&M’s first-half defense appeared much improved following Sunday’s 24-point loss at Oklahoma State. Whatever success was had in the open 20 minutes disappeared in the second period.
But even then were the early warning signs as A&M wasted early opportunities to pull away.
“We were not making a lot of shots, but we had energy,” Rubén Dominguez said of the first half. “We were diving on the floor. We were playing very hard, so that kept us in the game. I feel like those things, you didn’t see that a lot over the last 12, 13 minutes.”
Zach Clemence had a four-point play in the first half that put the Aggies up eight, but Kris Parker and Pacheo hit back-to-back treys to forge a 30-30 tie at halftime.
Turns out, that was just a foreshadowing of what was to come as A&M’s team defense reverted to selfish individual play.
“It’s pretty impressive. They made shots toward the end,” Clemence said. “We got to change, for sure. That’s unacceptable, but it is what it is. We’ll learn from it and get better.”
At 2-2 overall and winless against a pair of Big 12 foes, A&M’s deficiencies are obvious.
Team defense is a major issue, which is only magnified when shots aren’t falling.
Sure, reinforcements are on the way as Mackenzie Mgbako nears a return from a foot injury, but will that be enough to stem to early-season learning curve to the Bucky Ball system that is currently plaguing the Aggies?
“Buy” games vs. Montana, Manhattan and Mississippi Valley State are next.
Marketed and translatable improvement is required to prevent further déjà vu by the time A&M travels to Tampa on Nov. 28.
“It hurts losing,” McMillan said. “Trust me, no one hurts me than me, those coaches and those plays. It kills me, kills them, kills us all.
“They know we’re better than that, so we just got to keep working on it.”
