Wade Taylor’s return sparks Aggies to victory
Boosted by the return to all-conference guard Wade Taylor IV, the No. 11 Texas A&M men’s basketball team delivered a 68-57 victory over the LSU Tigers in front of a raucous crowd of 12, 812 on Saturday at Reed Arena.
Sent ’em back to Baton Rouge #GigEm | @AzunaFresh pic.twitter.com/RSCWgMCZST
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 19, 2025
The victory by the Aggies snapped a two-game losing streak and improved the Aggies’ overall record to 14-4 and 3-2 against SEC opponents. The Tigers fell to 13-6 and 1-4 in league play.
Taylor, the graduate from Dallas, had missed the previous three games with an undisclosed injury, but picked up where he had left off with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals while hitting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. With Taylor running the show, the Aggies dished out an impressive 15 assists, which were the team’s season high against power conference opponents.
The teams were knotted at 30-all at halftime and the two teams traded blows for the first six minutes of the second stanza before the Aggies took the lead for good with a 10-0 run powered by a 3-pointer and tip-in from Louisiana native Solomon Washington. A 3-pointer by Jace Carter pushed the lead to double digits with 7:03 remaining and the Aggies closed out the Tigers down the stretch for the 11-point win.
Joining Taylor in double digits were Zhuric Phelps with a team-high 13 points and Henry Coleman III with 10. Phelps also pulled down six rebounds and dished out six assists. Washington and Andersson Garcia tied for the team lead with seven rebounds as the Aggies earned a 38-33 advantage on the boards.
Washington had four offensive boards while Garcia chipped in three to boost the Aggies to a 14-6 advantage on the offensive glass which contributed to a 32-18 point advantage in the paint.
Coming into the game as the SEC’s leaders in turnover margin, the Aggies forced 18 takeaways while giving up only nine turnovers leading to a 19-4 bulge in points off turnovers.