COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It'll be a Merry Christmas for the 12th ranked Aggie men's basketball team who took down Houston Christians 77-45, to win their sixth straight headed into a short break.
For the first time in his career, standout guard Wade Taylor IV did not suit up for Friday's game after an injury he sustained late in the second half against Purdue last Saturday.
“We're very reliant on his talent for sure, but his leadership is as good as I've been around in my career,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “So, even practicing without him was, was different. There was a lot of valuable reps for some guys that had different responsibilities today and hopefully that that'll. That'll come to light at some point, I anticipate, but playing without ‘4,’ well we've never done it.”
Hayden Hefner led the way with a season high 19 points and seems to have the Huskies number. His career high 24 points last season also came against HCU.
“We had to step up because we had Wade dealing with something and Andy, he was on minutes restrictions,” Hefner said. “So just knowing you got a bigger role in this game, basically, that’s all it is.”
“He [Hefner] knows everything that's going on and he's very consistent,” Williams said. “He's very consistent not only on game day, he's consistent in the film room, he's consistent in the weight room. There's a lot of consistency in our group.”
The Aggies remain the number one offensive rebounding team in the country after another dominant game on the glass, but they ranked towards the bottom in defensive rebounding. After another strong performance down low by Pharrel Payne, however, the Maroon and White could see improvement on that side of the floor.
“I thought he had that same level of ferocity and how he was chasing after the ball,” Williams said. “We, have to improve defensively on the glass as a team, and he's one of the few that can help move the needle on that. Our defense is ranked 6th entering today's game, but our defensive rebounding is among the worst in the country, and so if we can sure that up somewhat, I think t'll help our defense, and he can do that.”
The Aggies will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule next Saturday as they host Abilene Christian. That tipoff is set for 3 p.m. The Aggies return to Reed Arena the following Saturday as the A&M kicks off SEC play and part one of their Lone Star showdown against the Texas Longhorns.
