Texas A&M junior guard Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies in scoring during an 80-71 victory versus Ole Miss, tallying a game-high 20 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
His backcourt mate, senior G Tyrece “Boots” Radford, racked up 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. The Rebels capitalized on Texas A&M’s quick shot attempts and went on a 10-0 run to trim their deficit to 61-58 with 2:13 left. Following a timeout from coach Buzz Williams, Texas A&M responded with 6 straight points to seal the win.
“It started to get close but coach Buzz has us shoot 100 free throws a day,” Radford said. “All we had to do was step to the line, take our time and knock down the free throws. Ole Miss made big time plays later in the game but we did good with keeping our composure, just waiting to get fouled and make our free throws.”
The Aggies converted 27-of-37 attempts from the free-throw line on Thursday. Both starting guards scored 8 points from the charity stripe. The totals pale in comparison to Jan. 27 when Ole Miss beat Texas A&M 71-68 and the Aggies made 11-of-15 free throw attempts.
“I don’t think free throws were the reason why we won today. I think we had a different mindset than we had previously when we played in College Station. We’re a whole different team now,” Taylor proclaimed. “We did OK on the defensive end. I wouldn’t say that if we made free throws back in College Station, then we would’ve won. The mindset we had then and now was pretty much different.”
No. 7 Texas A&M plays No. 2 Kentucky (23-8) in the quarterfinals today at 7 p.m. CST on SEC Network.
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