Texas A&M recorded its lowest point total of the season, lost by 40 points and had no players score in double figures.
But coach Melvin Watkins wasn’t taking Wednesday night’s 85-45 loss to Kansas University too hard.
“Probably a win out here was too much to expect,” Watkins said. “When your leading scorers shoot 2-of-11, 1-of-11, 2-of-9, there’s not a whole lot you can do.”
Bernard King, the Aggies’ leading scorer at 18.0 points per game, was held to just seven points. King, the Big 12 Conference’s all-time leading scorer, was the 2-of-9 to whom Watkins referred. Antoine Wright, a leading candidate for Big 12 freshman of the year, was 2-of-11. Kevin Turner was 1-of-11.
A&M hit just 17 of 65 field goals for 26.2 percent, was outrebounded 52-37 and made four three-pointers in 17 tries.
In addition, the Aggies coughed the ball up 24 times.
“They did the job (defensively) early, and we didn’t handle the pressure very well,” Watkins said. “You miss some layups and easy buckets, and before you know it you’re out of it.”
A&M was out of it early. The Jayhawks were up 31-9 with 7:57 left in the first period.
Eventually, the Aggies fell behind by 50. They cut it to 40 against KU’s reserves, thanks mostly to Leandro Garcia-Morales scoring all of his team-high nine points in the last 21/2 minutes.
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“We still had some shots I’d like us to take,” Watkins said. “We just didn’t hit them.”
KU’s defense contributed mightily to A&M’s woes.
“It (game) was a lot more fun,” KU forward Nick Collison said, referring to Sunday’s 77-70 loss at Oklahoma. “We really came out and defended.”
Senior Kirk Hinrich agreed.
“We had a solid performance defensively,” Hinrich said. “We played for 40 minutes. We knew they had some scorers and we wanted to limit them. We did a pretty good job.”
Watkins would not allow his players to talk to the media.
Texas A&M remains in eighth place in the Big 12 standings, and the road doesn’t get any easier. Saturday, the Aggies will entertain Oklahoma.
“We’ve bounced back all year long,” Watkins said. “We’ll go back and watch tape. We’ve got Oklahoma coming in.
“We just didn’t have it today.”
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Photos: Texas A&M game pix
Hear Roy: Texas A&M post-game