Team #113 - Texas A&M

On Friday November 25th 2022, I saw my 112th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I saw the DePaul Blue Demons take on the Texas A&M Aggies. Texas A&M is the 4th team that I have seen out of the SEC. Texas A&M has a 3-2 record on the year. They most recently played Loyola Chicago and they won 67-51. The leading scorer for Texas A&M is Wade Taylor IV and he is averaging 14.2 PPG. DePaul has a 3-2 record on the year. They most recently played Oklahoma State and they lost 82-78. The leading scorer for the Blue Demons is Umoja Gibson and he is averaging 17.0 PPG.

Texas A&M was by far the better team on paper. DePaul came in short handed. Texas A&M has been a struggle to predict this year however. They will beat teams they shouldn’t and lose games they should win. On this day, the hood Texas A&M showed up. The Aggies never trailed in the first half. Tyrece Radford played very well for Texas A&M in the first half. He finished the half with 15 points. He could get whatever he wanted and Umoja Gibson struggled to guard him. As for DePaul their lone bright spot was Eral Penn. Penn is a transfer from Long Island. He was by far the best Blue Demon in the first half, finishing with 15 points himself. DePaul struggled with the speed and athleticism of Texas A&M in a major way. It felt like A&M could do whatever they wanted on the offensive end. At the half, the Aggies found themselves in the lead by a score of 38-27.

The second half was all A&M again. The only part that was different in this half was the game was a little chippy. Four technical fouls (2 for each team) were called in the second half alone. DePaul tried to claw it’s way back but they truly had no answer for Wade Taylor IV or Tyrece Radford. At one point in the second half, I was convinced that DePaul was going to run out of players, they were fouling so much. The Aggie lead, was never less than 11 points the entire second half and they would really cost the whole second half. When the final buzzer sounded, Texas A&M came out with an 82-66 win. Radford was the leading scorer for the Aggies with 31 points. Umoja Gibson did manage to have a nice game for himself in the second half after struggling in the first half. He finished with 13 points and 10 assists. The leading scorer for DePaul was Eral Penn with 21 points. Texas A&M if they stay disciplined is certainly a team that can make some noise in the SEC and certainly could make the NCAA Tournament as a 7-10 seed. DePaul seems to have taken a couple of steps back this year. They lost a lot of talent in the offseason and certainly look like they will be battling with Georgetown for last in the Big East. Based on it’s current roster, it seems DePaul should have made more of a splash in the transfer portal. 

My next games are tomorrow as I head back to Milwaukee for a mini holiday tournament hosted by Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Three new teams tomorrow.