Texas A&M returns home with plenty of swagger and continued growth to square off against New Orleans on Tuesday in College Station, Texas.
The Aggies (6-1) won their final two games to capture the consolation championship of the Maui Invitational in Las Vegas, rallying from 14 points down over the final 16:40 of the game to beat Notre Dame in their final game in the tournament.
Quenton Jackson led the Texas A&M in scoring with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting vs. Notre Dame. Hassan Diarra added a career-high 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting and Wade Taylor IV matched his season-best with 14 points in the win.
The comeback was the largest for Texas A&M in the two-plus years of coach Buzz Williams’ tenure and biggest since the Aggies came back from 17 points down vs. Virginia Tech on Nov. 25, 2016.
“The response of everybody that played in the second half was incredible,” Williams said. “Twenty-two points in the first half and 51 points in the second half. Our intensity, our energy, our pace, our togetherness, the symmetry, the synergy in which we played was easily the best that it has been at any point this season.
“It was a ginormous step for our program relative to where we were at halftime.”
The Privateers (3-4) are coming off a 79-71 consolation championship win at home over VMI in the UNO Classic on Friday, their second victory in their past three games. New Orleans led by a point at halftime before forging a 23-7 run over the first eight minutes of the second half, after which VMI never got closer than six points.
Derek St. Hilaire finished with a game-high 22 points against VMI and has now gone for 20-plus points in six of seven Privateers contests this season. Troy Green added 17 points, and De’Sean Allen-Eikens hit for 13 for New Orleans in the win.
–Field Level Media
