3 lessons from Texas A&M’s 78-54 defeat to South Carolina: fouls, twists and turns condemn Aggies

Here are three lessons from Texas A&M’s 78-54 defeat to South Carolina:

Buzz Williams line wrap system

In the last two games, A&M coach Buzz Williams has divided the Aggies into two “teams”, taking turns with each unit in an effort to limit the moves that have affected A&M so far this season. The five holders were Quenton Jackson, Emanuel Miller, Jaxson Robinson, Andre Gordon and Kevin Marfo, with their second group consisting of Jay Jay Chandler, Savion Flagg, Hassan Diarra, Hayden Hefner and Jonathan Aku.

However, with 12 minutes to go until the end of the first half, Williams mixed his teams, and a new formation, consisting of Miller, Hefner, Chandler, Diarra and Jackson, took over and launched an 11-0 run for A&M, narrowing the team of South Carolina lead to 20-19. That was as close as the Aggies got to the rest of the game, as the Gamecocks maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

Faults, rotations continue to plague A&M

In the first six minutes, A&M had already accumulated five fouls and seven turns, which corresponded to the number of shooting attempts that the Aggies had made in that period. At halftime, Williams’ double unit system seemed to be helping, as A&M entered the halftime with just three more fouls and five turns. Marfo played a few minutes in the first half and quickly suffered two fouls with less than five minutes of play. A minute and a half in the second half, he added another, playing just seven minutes in the night. The Aggies ended the game with 19 fouls and 19 turns.

Scoring fights

A&M also continued to have trouble finding the net against South Carolina, shooting 17 out of 50 and 5 out of 25 from behind the hoop. At half-time, 12 Aggies had seen action in the game, but only four placed points on the board: Miller led midway with 17, Jackson followed with five and Robinson and Gordon placed three and two, respectively. While the game remained in the first half, South Carolina beat the Aggies 45-27 in the second half.