Texas A&M Makes Ferocious Statement In Home Opener Over Alabama State

College basketball at Reed Arena is officially back in full force.

Texas A&M welcomed Alabama State for the first non-conference game of the season in front of a rowdy 12th Man crowd fired up to catch the first glimpse of Bucky Ball. It was a good but not great start to the 2026-27 campaign as the battle resulted in a 97-66 victory.

Head coach Bucky McMillan assembled a stacked roster in his second season in Aggieland, as there were multiple looks off the bench checking into the game, as PJ Haggerty led the team with 22 points, followed by a notable performance by Jordan Pope, who also contributed with his 17 points and five rebounds to fly past the Hornets at home.

In the first half, the Maroon and White got off to a slow start, missing easy shots, including layups they didn't finish well and free throws that should've been easy. At halftime, McMillan got his crew to clean it up and finish the night with a decent effort on both ends.

Solid First Outing

Looking at how A&M shot to start, it appeared some pieces of the offense and defense were still being worked on, but 11 players checked in and got valuable minutes to learn from, with more to follow.

From the field, the Aggies were not terrible, going 44 percent with several open looks scattered across the court. On the first 44 points, 18 came in the paint, and 20 came off the defense, forcing turnovers when the Hornets fell short. From downtown, the offense was also a little quiet, drilling only two shots from forward Zach Clemence and Pope.

In the first half, the Hornets struggled to quiet down one of Alabama State's best shooters of the evening. Mike James scored 10 points in the first period and was perfect from the free-throw line. His teammate, Paul McMillan , was also perfect from the charity stripe, making three free throws and adding eight points in the first half.

A&M's defense stepped up at times, holding the opposing offense in scoring and field-goal droughts. One of those notable moments in the first half came when Alabama State was 0-for-5 on their field goals, and A&M couldn't buy a shot as there was a span of over five minutes where no field goals were buried, which, at the time, was a one-possession game going to a media break.

After cleaning up the shot selection, the Aggies got back on their feet going on an eventual 15-2 run with a 9-0 run in between that saw forward Jalen Shelley make a free throw and swish a jumper before the Cade Phillips dunk. Forward Mackenzie Mgbako and Haggerty scored the final four points of that span.

Closing out the half, Haggerty scored four of the last six points, including a nice layup, to make it 44-29 going to the locker room. Coming out of the break, A&M allowed two buckets for a 5-0 run by Alabama State before heating up.

Two back-to-back 3-pointers by Mgbako and Clemence sparked a 6-0 run before Haggerty tacked on a jumper, followed by a Mgbako free throw and a Pope triple to cap the 12-0 run.

The Hornets then flew right back into the game, posting 12 points in three minutes and producing a 12-2 run of their own, including a jumper by forward Jamie Vinson.

Consecutive foul calls led to free throws that added to the made-free-throw total, and Haggerty and Shelley created some magic to muscle in a few layups as that 7-0 run set the tone for the rest of the way with a 65-46 lead.

Down the line, the theme continued as they found ways to get to the line, cashed in five straight shots to push the lead to 20. Over 3:22, A&M stepped on the gas as a 13-0 run at the four-minute mark got the entire team hyped.

Capping off the night, the team tallied 42 paint points, while the defense hustled to generate 25 turnovers. A&M also found success poking the ball away with 13 steals and helped with 18 fastbreak points.

Next up for A&M is a date with Northern Kentucky on Friday, November 6th at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tamu as Texas A&M Makes Ferocious Statement In Home Opener Over Alabama State.