Bucky McMillan's Texas A&M Dominates Season Opener

McMillan spoke earlier this morning on TexAgs Live, stating that the home opener felt like being a kid on the night before Christmas, awaiting the joy of opening the college basketball season. 

Quickly, the gifts he got during recruiting were on display with the rotation of players on the court constantly being shuffled around. That’s the style of basketball McMillan has established as a coach and will continue to do as the season progresses. 

As a team, the Aggies went 18-for-35 from the field at halftime, and from the three-point line, they were lights out, going 7-of-17 from behind the arc.

Offensively, A&M hauled in 21 rebounds, 13 of which were defensive rebounds. The Puerto Real, Spain native was the leading scorer at intermission with 13 points. From downtown, Dominguez knocked down a trio of threes and was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. 

“Dominguez played like a pro and let the game come to him,” McMillan said. 

Team captain Rashaun Agee was also a massive presence in the paint for the Aggies, tied with Zach Clemence for the most minutes played in the first half. Agee finished the half with eight points and three rebounds. 

“We’re super grateful and thankful to be playing as a team,” Agee said, “I feel like we great. We’re relentless.”

As a team, what stood out was how McMillan prepared his troops to be ready to go at any point during the game. There were 24 bench points at half, with 22 points in the paint, along with 14 points off turnovers. Not too shabby. 

For the Demons, the nerves went away fast in front of a rowdy 12th Man crowd was an advantage for the Aggies, as G Micah Thomas recorded 18 points in the first half. It wasn’t enough to rally his team.

“Everybody’s got good players,” McMillan said. “He made some tough ones.”

Second Half Takeaways

Nothing stopped the ball from flying in the second half after a commanding lead heading into the second half. What was pleasing was watching the depth of McMillan’s roster and how unselfish the players were in distributing the basketball. 

“Pretty good sharing it, I thought the first half,” McMillan said. “I think good passing leads to good baskets.” 

A&M kept pushing the tempo of the game in its favor, with Northwestern State unable to stay the pace. Thomas continued to give the A&M defense issues, but the bench was way too explosive to allow any significant adjustments. 

Junior G, Josh Holloway stole the show with an electric second-half performance after piling only four points in the first half. McMillan was able to recruit the transfer from Samford to play in Aggieland. During his time there, he played in 60 games and averaged 8.8 points as a sophomore. 

On the night, Holloway finished with 13 points with three rebounds and four assists.

“I thought Josh Holloway was really good in that game,” McMillan said. “Playing really good basketball. Highest percentage. Highest plus minus, and it was great to see him play that way.”

Transfer G from Creighton, Pop Isaacs, also got to see time on the court after being questionable entering the home opener. Isaacs tallied his first points in the Maroon and White with under two minutes to go, but doubled his numbers with two made three-pointers along with two assists. 

“I thought he got better as the game went along,” McMillan said. “I think he was a little nervous when it started, just cause he hadn’t played in so long.” 

Reviewing the numbers, A&M was 49 percent from the field, knocking down 35 of its 71 field goals. Three-pointers were also raining down as the offense canned 11, while making their way to the free-throw line was also a key factor in their massive success. A&M also shot 17 free throws, off 23 attempts, which proved to pay off.

“We got a deep team,” McMillan said. “We got a deep team, not because we got 10 guys on the NBA draft board right now. We got 10 solid, good players. Therefore, it’s going to be different people’s nights every other game.”