COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M tied its season low for points and shot a season worst from 3-point range Saturday.
But great defense, good rebounding and solid free-throw shooting helped the Aggies overcome their offensive woes and earn a 64-53 victory over Nebraska in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
“We just can’t make a shot right now,” Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. “We’re getting good looks. We’re going to make shots. As long as we keep rebounding and guarding, I’m OK.”
Donald Sloan scored 26 points, including several key free throws down the stretch, to lead the Aggies. Facing the Big 12’s stingiest defense, Texas A&M improved to 12-0 this season when holding teams to less than 70 points.
“We hang our hats on our defense,” Sloan said. “Our 3s weren’t falling today. You can’t change that. But we can always expect to play a certain way on defense. We can’t always control the offensive half, but we can control the other half.”
Nebraska (12-4) led by one before Texas A&M (12-3) scored nine straight points, six on free throws by Sloan, to take a 51-43 lead with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining.
Texas A&M’s only bucket in that span came when B.J. Holmes converted a block by Bryan Davis into a short jump shot with about eight minutes remaining.
The Cornhuskers cut the lead to six before a 3-pointer by A&M’s Nathan Walkup with less then five minutes remaining made it 54-45, and Nebraska didn’t threaten again.
Nebraska was led Christian Standhardinger, a freshman from Germany, who had 13 points and seven rebounds in his debut for the Cornhuskers. Standhardinger had to sit out Nebraska’s first 15 games because he played for a German club team that had professionals.
“He kept them right there in the game the whole time,” Davis said. “We didn’t know much about him because we hadn’t seen him play.”
Nebraska went on a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by Eshaunte Jones with about 14 minutes left to tie it at 33-all. The Cornhuskers tied the score twice more before taking their first lead of the game, 39-38, on a 3-pointer by Sek Henry with about 11 minutes remaining.
The teams traded the lead after that before Standhardinger made one of two free throws to put Nebraska ahead 43-42 with about nine minutes. Texas A&M then went on its game-deciding run.
Jorge Brian Diaz added 10 points for Nebraska and Jones had nine.
Texas A&M got 11 points and 11 rebounds from Davis and nine points from Khris Middleton.
The Aggies made 25 of 33 free throws to make up for their struggles from 3-point range where they made just 3 of 21. Nebraska made 6 of 9 free throw attempts.
“You’ve got to play really well to come down here and win,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “You can’t send a team to the free throw line 33 times and you only get nine. That’s just fouling too many times. You can’t get outscored at the free throw line by 19, 18 points whatever it is and expect to win on the road. You just can’t do it.”
Texas A&M jumped out to a 5-0 lead and was up 26-21 at halftime after a three-point play by Holmes with 1 second left in the first half. Both teams went long stretches without scoring in the first half. Texas A&M tied a season low for first-half points, and Nebraska scored its fewest points in a first half this season.
“I don’t think either team shot the ball as well as they’ve been shooting it,” Sadler said. “I want to hope that the defense on both sides had something to do with it, but I’m afraid when both of us look at the tape you’re going to see a lot of open shots that were really missed in the first half.”
Derrick Roland was introduced with the starters as he attended his first game at Reed Arena since breaking both the tibia and fibula in his right leg at Washington on Dec. 22.
