Going into the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball game against the LSU Tigers, the smart money was on LSU to win. The Tigers easily disposed of the Aggies 75-57 in Reed Arena, which dropped them to (8-11, 1-6) on the season. However, the team's seventh loss in nine games didn't have to be this way.
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The Aggies could have made a stronger stand and possibly even won the game had coach Billy Kennedy had a better game plan and made some simple adjustments throughout the game. After another questionable coaching performance, Kennedy's time in College Station could be ending very soon.
"...they have a lot of different weapons that can score the basketball..."
🔊 @Coach_Kennedy speaks on tomorrow's matchup with LSU.#GigEm pic.twitter.com/tZjdPLwMqv
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 29, 2019
The Aggies were only down by one point at halftime, but LSU made adjustments and Texas A&M did not. Couple this with 16 turnovers and a poor 3-point shooting in the second half, and you get an embarrassing home loss.
The first issue was the game plan for LSU's Tremont Waters. The 5-foot-11 sophomore point guard led all scorers with a season-high 36 points and made 6-of-10 shots from the 3-point line. The Aggies could not stop him. Worst of all, coach Billy Kennedy knew exactly what he was getting into.
"He's got to be one of the best point guards in the country that people don't talk about," Kennedy said of Waters. He didn't do anything to try to neutralize LSU's biggest threat. He should have tried to at least double-team Waters or run him off the 3-point line, but nothing worked.
Tremont Waters put on a show with 36 points at Texas A&M! 🔥 @LSUBasketball pic.twitter.com/EHDB3z9gHK
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 31, 2019
The second issue is that the team, which is already a low-percentage 3-point shooting team, tried to long ball their way out of this game. They shot a terrible 3-of-21 from behind the arc, once again proving that his spread offensive scheme isn't working.
The third issue is the playing time for the rest of the bench. If you're not playing to win, empty the bench and pass out some experience. Aggies star guard TJ Starks finished with 21 points and five rebounds and Josh Nebo logged 16 points and 11 rebounds on hi sown. The usual suspects delivered on what they usually provide game-in and game-out. If Kennedy was going to play them straight up, let the bench go out there and see what they can do. John Brown, Mark French, and John Walker III played only 7 minutes between the three of them in the game. There's talent on this team, but it's still not getting used.
The Aggies will likely finish this season with a losing record, but Kennedy is slowly losing the trust of Aggieland with another terrible showing.
