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On Friday night, Texas A&M (20-13) laid the hammer down against the Kentucky Wildcats (23-9) in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, defeating the blue-blood program 97-87 behind Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford’s 55 combined points.
In a game where the Aggies knew they were still firmly sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble, head coach Buzz Williams, combined with every Aggies fan known to man, knew that to keep pace with the elite shooting Wildcats, littered with blue-chip talent, A&M’s guard trio of Wade Taylor IV, Tyrece Radford, and Manny Obaseki needed to be borderline elite from the field themselves.
Well, in the first half, that was surprisingly the case, as Taylor, coming off of his 20-point outing vs. Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC tourney on Thursday, was feeling it, scoring a game-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers, A&M shot 50% from deep as Radford delivered 12 first-half points of his own,
Needing players outside of the guard trio to step up, sophomore forward Solomon Washington continued his excellent play from the field. He also contributed from 3-point range (2-3), netting six rebounds and nine points going into halftime. However, despite capitalizing off Kentucky’s mistake, the Wildcats still shot 48% from the field while matching A&M’s 9 assists.
Second Half:
Holding onto a six-point lead, the Aggies completely shifted their offensive flow, slowing the game down to curb the Wildcats’ tempo while attacking the basket at will. Tyrece Radford drove the paint left and right, and Kentucky’s defense failed to defend near the basket.
Kentucky continued to keep the game relatively close, as both teams traded baskets for the first eight or so minutes, building a 67-59 lead behind 21 second-chance points, as the Aggies continued to attack the paint at will. As the lead widened even further, Wade Taylor’s record-setting tournament performance reached its apex, as the junior hit two more wide-open 3-pointers due to the Wildcats’ choice to…
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Author : Aggies Wire
Publish date : 2024-03-15 22:12:11
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