On the backs of Jalen Jones and Danuel House, Texas A&M stormed back from a halftime deficit to top Missouri and gather its third win in a row.
The scoring tandem of Jones and House continued a hot streak with 16 points each in the 62-50 win at Reed Wednesday.
Jones, who leads the team in scoring and rebounding, also added nine rebounds.
“We knew that we couldn’t let this one slip away from us,” Jones said. “Missouri played a lot of close games this year and we knew that they were going to come at us hard. They gave us the first punch and we knew that we had to him them back. From the start of the season to now, we’ve been a pretty good second half team and we knew that we had to take it to a different notch. And that’s what we ended up doing.”
Texas A&M opened the second half on a 15-5 run with back-to-back three pointers by House and Jones. The Aggies caught the three-point bug in the second half and never looked back, shooting 46 percent from behind the arc and leading by as many as 15 points.
“I really thought at the beginning of the second half our guys played like we are capable of playing,” head coach Billy Kennedy said. “Our post defense was really good. We didn’t turn the ball over. Only had three turnovers in the second half. We got the ball side-to-side, had some patience and then Jalen Jones got us scoring and we made some shots.”
The Tigers (7-11, 1-4 SEC) opened the game on a 9-4 run. The Aggies (12-5, 3-2 SEC) struggled scoring in the first, going 8-24 from the field.
“Missouri came out read to play like they’ve been doing all year,” Kennedy said. “They moved the ball in the first half and caused us some problems with their defense sagging. We turned it over quick and gave them some opportunities to score in transition that really hurt us.”
Alex Caruso, the SEC leader in assists and assists per game, chipped in 11 points and dished out three assists.
“We just got good open looks,” Caruso said. “I think coach told us we had 10 assists and three turnovers in the second half, which is the complete opposite of what it was in the first half. We just got to do what we do, which is making plays for other guys. We got into the paint and got open shots, which is what we want to do and what we’re good at.”
For the Tigers, guard Wes Clark was all over the court, with 18 points, six assists and five steals. Texas A&M managed to keep leading scorer Johnathan Williams III in check, holding him to nine points and 10 rebounds.
The next time the Aggies hit the hardwood, they will head to Knoxville for a matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers (11-5, 3-1 SEC) at noon Saturday inside Thompson Boling Arena.