University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Texas A&M
Bulldogs Stumble at Texas A&M; Head towards Alaska
11.21.2015 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Texas A&M 75, Asheville 47
Teams: Asheville (1-3, 0-0 BSC)
Texas A&M (4-0, 0-0 SEC)
Location: Reed Arena/College Station, TX
COLLEGE STATION, TX – UNC Asheville shot just 30 percent on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs fell 75-43 at Texas A&M as the Aggies improved to 4-0 on nearly 50 percent team shooting. The Bulldogs now head for Anchorage and the Great Alaska Shootout next week.
THE TURNING POINT
Down 32-22 at the half, the Bulldogs saw Texas A&M turn on the offense in the second half and double up Asheville 42-24 over the final 20 minutes. Texas A&M's shooting actually improved in the second half, as the hosts shot 55 percent in the final half.
NOTABLES
-Freshman Dwayne Sutton had the game's best performance, tallying 14 points and 12 rebounds, game-highs in both categories. Fellow freshman Dylan Smith notched 14 points of his own on 4-of-8 three-point shooting.
-Sutton accounted for nearly a third of Asheville's total rebounds, as the Bulldogs finished with 37 total rebounds, including 23 on the defensive glass.
-Asheville turned the ball over 19 times Saturday, leading to 22 Texas A&M points off of those turnovers.
-Armed with considerable height advantage inside, Texas A&M finished with 38 points in the paint.
-After shooting 50 percent from three-point range in the first half, Asheville was just 1-for-8 from outside in the second half and finished the afternoon shooting 31 percent from three-point range.
-Texas A&M saw three players finish in double-figures – Tonny Trocha (12), Danuel House (12) and Tyler Davis (11) – all three big men inside for the Aggies.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On the game – “We turned the ball over a little too much tonight and didn't shoot well enough to beat a team of Texas A&M's caliber. We talked about two keys to the game being rebounding with Texas A&M and stopping them in transition offense. I think our first fast-break points we gave up were in the second half and that's part of the reason we held them to 33 in the first half. Not too many times defensively are you proud of your team for giving up 75 points, but when you are playing a team that's averaging 100 points per game, I thought we did a nice job on that end of the floor. When you have close to 20 turnovers and our shooting percentages from both the free throw line and behind the arc being so low, it's hard to at a team that's that good.
On freshmen Dwyane Sutton and Dylan Smith – “I think we can continue to grow with them. Both guys had a pretty good night and they continue to get better. As the season goes along and they continue to get more experience, I think they will keep playing better and better.”
On upcoming schedule – “Tomorrow is a travel day and we'll get back in the swing of things Monday, but that will still be a lighter day because we've got three tough games in a row. Quick turn arounds, but as Trae (Bryant), Dylan and Dwayne continue to improve, it allows Kevin Vannatta and David Robertson to play fewer, but better, minutes. With a five guard rotation, hopefully we are starting to build depth where we can play three games in three days. Hopefully we will continue to get better and see what we can do up in Alaska.”
UP NEXT
-Following Saturday's loss, Asheville will head back in the air for a Sunday full of travel before arriving in Anchorage in preparation for their first round Great Alaska Shootout matchup on Thanksgiving night against Drexel.
