Timid play dooms Aggies in loss to Baylor

WACO -- Whether it was the No. 4 before the team name or the wall of nearly-7-footers in front of them, the Texas A&M Aggies appeared intimidated in the opening minutes of the game.

That was enough for the fourth-ranked and undefeated Baylor Bears to seize a comfortable lead and maintain it throughout the Big 12 opener for a 61-52 victory.

"We came in prepared but we played very timidly and little bit overwhelmed," said A&M junior guard Elston Turner. "First Big 12 game, on the road against a Top 5 team, we have a lot of young players and veterans, [so] not butterflies but in awe, I would say. We don't have four or five people 6-11 so it's hard to prepare for the length they have and that bothered us a lot early, too."

It took A&M (9-4) more than five minutes to get on the scoreboard and the Aggies had more fouls than points until the 13:14 mark.

"I thought so, I really thought so," A&M coach Billy Kennedy said of Turner's comment about being in awe. "I was really disappointed about that, but again their zone and that size and this was our first true road game. And our bench, the guys that came in, they were afraid at times, and you saw the youthfulness and inexperience when they had to play."

It didn't help that the first two fouls were on David Loubeau and two of the next three on Khris Middleton, A&M's two leading scorers last season in Big 12 games.

Loubeau played two minutes in the opening half, picking up his third foul 19 seconds after re-entering the game. Middleton logged 10 minutes in the opening half.

The offense sputtered with the two out, at times having trouble getting off a shot, while also having 10 turnovers.

"We are really limited offensively at times, and against a good defense like they are that makes it tough," Kennedy said. "We've got to stay out of foul trouble. We have a small margin of error and I thought Khris and Loubeau being in foul trouble in the first half hurt us."

A&M shot 21 percent for the half and was probably fortunate to be down only 30-17. Back-to-back 3s late in the half by Turner and Middleton gave the Aggies some hope.

Baylor (14-0) took most of that wishful thinking away early in the second half, with Quincy Acy hitting a rare 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down, 6-foot-9 freshman Quincy Miller making two of his five baskets, and A.J. Walton sinking two free throws to help stretch the lead to 44-21.

"Our biggest strength is that we have different people stepping up at different times," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "It all depends on what the defense gives you and that's what makes us good, our depth."

Dash Harris sank a 3-pointer, Loubeau followed his own miss, and Middleton made three straight shots -- the last on a steal under the basket -- to help cut the lead to 47-33.

With Kennedy having found a lineup that was working, Turner got hot from the outside making three 3s, the third of which closed the gap to 57-48 with 2:25 remaining.

Middleton and Turner free throws helped keep the gap at nine, matching Pierre Jackson's four free throws, his only points of the game.

A&M took better care of the ball as the game progressed, turning it over only three times in the second half thanks in large part to Harris, who had only two turnovers in 37 minutes.

"We just settled in and we knew what we wanted to do and stuck with our gameplan on offense and defense," Turner said. "When you do that you are going to make less turnovers."

The Aggies also hit the offensive boards better in the second half, grabbing nine. The Bears won the overall rebounding battle 41-38, with 6-11 sophomore Perry Jones III making the difference with 12 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end. Jones also paced the Bears with 14 points, six coming late in the second half when the Aggies were trying to get back into the game.

Turner hit 5 of 12 3-point attempts and was the game's leading scorer with a career-high 21.

Middleton had 14 points, but it took 17 shots. A&M finished shooting 29 percent and not one starter shot better than 40 percent from the floor.

A&M played solid defense, holding the Bears to 39 percent shooting. The Bears' two leading scorers on the perimeter, Brady Heslip and Jackson, were held to a combined four points and went 0 for 5 from the field.

Heslip was blanked after five straight games of double-digit points. It was his first game all season without a 3-pointer.

"That was one of our goals, to limit Heslip and Jackson offensively," Kennedy said. "I was encouraged that we competed. We haven't always done that, so that is the best thing I can say, and our defense was pretty good.

NOTES -- Baylor's two basketball teams and its football team are a combined 33-0 since the beginning of November. ... Brady Heslip was the Big 12's Rookie of the Week for Dec. 25 to Jan.1. ... A&M's bench had only two points, finishing 1 of 6 from the floor. ... As time ran out, the Baylor fans chanted "Big 12, Big 12." ... Baylor's 14 straight victories are a school record. .. The Bears have won 51 straight games in which they've held their opponents to fewer than 60 points.