Instant Reaction: Aggie Hoops fall to the Bulldogs

The Aggies fell to the Georgia Bulldogs tonight in what a lot of folks correctly pegged as an NCAA Tournament type of game. Georgia mostly secured their spot in postseason play tonight, and the Aggies made the next couple of games critically important for their NCAA Tournament hopes.

1. No post presence

Tonight was not a good performance for the post players from Texas A&M. Not at all. Roberson and Jones both found themselves in early foul trouble, but they weren't efficient in the time they were on the court. It seems like after our bigs have their shot blocked the first time, they either get timid or put the ball way too hard off the glass on their shot attempts. Defensively, Jones and Trocha just got abused by Nemanja Djurisic. He's a decent big man in the SEC, but nowhere near as talented as the Aggie defenders made him look tonight.

2. Lazy, lazy passes

The Aggies lost the turnover matchup tonight against the Bulldogs 13-7. Georgia's best looks in the game came off of lazy passes around the top of the key on the Aggies' side of the court. It's been a pretty recurring problem the last few games, and there's not much we've seen to give any hope of it getting better. Those turnovers are momentum changers in the slow pace of a college basketball game.

3. Personnel, Adjustments, and Awareness

The Aggies are in a stretch of games where they will be facing very similar talent and athleticism to their own. It's also a stretch of games where we will be facing a group of teams that don't exactly wow you with their offensive sets. Georgia made a small adjustment defensively when Caruso and House started to get things going. The Aggie staff didn't have an answer for it. The foul trouble didn't help things, and a guy like Space who hasn't seen much of the hardwood in the last month or so is forced into action on the court. It was obvious he hasn't had many meaningful miutes lately. The types of personnel sets we put on the court forced Caruso or House to be the only scoring threats at times, and Georgia's defensive pressure was mostly able to keep them in check. I'd definitely like to see the staff improve at adjusting to what they see during the game, and not trying to force a game plan that simply isn't working any longer. When your bench is 0-8 from the field (yes, that's an actual stat), you're going to have to get more creative with your offensive sets.