Williams scores 22 as No. 16 Auburn beats cold-shooting Texas A&M 66-55

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Williams: 'I was just tired of losing to Texas A&M'

After hitting the dagger and a game-high 22 points to beat the Aggies, No. 16 Auburn's Jaylin Williams recounts his hot shooting night and explains where his motivation came from.

Updated: Jan 10, 2024, 05:42 am

AUBURN, Ala. -- — Auburn went from dominating on the road to rallying at home. But the 16th-ranked Tigers ultimately won again.

Jaylin Williams scored 22 points and Auburn didn't give up a field goal in the final nine minutes to defeat Texas A&M 66-55 on Tuesday night.

“Dang, maybe we should just stop fouling,” Williams said when told of that drought. “We fouled them a little bit down the stretch but we knew that if we stayed in front of those guards, they couldn't beat us.”

Williams' 3-pointer from the top of the key beat the shot-clock buzzer with 52 seconds left and sealed an eighth straight win for the Tigers (13-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference).

Texas A&M (9-6, 0-2) missed its last 10 shots and didn't have a field goal after the 9:15 mark. Auburn scored the final seven points, including two free throws apiece from K.D. Johnson and Tre Donaldson.

Auburn jumped nine spots in the AP Top 25 rankings this week after an 83-51 win at Arkansas, the Razorbacks’ largest defeat at Bud Walton Arena. The Tigers found it much harder to beat the Aggies, who ended Auburn’s nation-leading 28-game home winning streak last season.

Williams shot 8 of 10 and had eight rebounds and three assists for Auburn. Johnson added 14 points off the bench and leading scorer Johni Broome had 10, going 8 of 10 from the free throw line.

Texas A&M leading scorer Wade Taylor IV had a season-low eight points, 10 below his season average. He shot 2 of 16 and missed all eight 3-point attempts.

“I challenged our guards. Wade Taylor is the preseason SEC player of the year,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Yeah, we sent him to the foul line, but I thought our guards did a tremendous job defensively.”

Henry Coleman III led the Aggies with 17 points and Tyrece Radford scored 14. Texas A&M had 19 offensive rebounds but only 10 second-chance points.

“I thought we tried real hard,” coach Buzz Williams said. “I thought our competitive character was excellent. I thought we did a really good job on the offensive glass. It’s hard to shoot more balls than a team as talented as they are. I thought that gave us a chance.”

Coleman converted three-point plays — a basket and free throw — on three straight field goals as Texas A&M turned a nine-point deficit into a lead midway through the second half on Radford's 3-pointer.

But then Williams capped an 8-0 Auburn run with a reverse layup for a 54-48 advantage with 5:45 left. Broome had scored six straight points on four free throws and a layup before that.

The Aggies stayed close by making their first 13 free throws of the second half, but they shot 29% (18 of 62) from the floor overall.

BIG PICTURE

Texas A&M: Committed four turnovers in the final 2:54 and fell to 0-3 against ranked teams, including a 70-66 loss to No. 2 Houston and a 96-89 defeat against No. 24 Florida Atlantic. The Aggies are 5-2 against Auburn under Buzz Williams.

Auburn: Made 21 of 26 free throws (80.8%) and snapped a three-game losing streak to the Aggies. Pearl tied Cliff Ellis as Auburn's second-winningest coach with 186 victories behind Joel Eaves (213).

REACHING 90

How much experience do the Aggies have? Taylor became the seventh current Texas A&M player to appear in his 90th career Division I game, led by Radford (134).

UP NEXT

Texas A&M hosts No. 6 Kentucky on Saturday.

Auburn hosts LSU on Saturday.

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