The Arizona men’s basketball team came out slow as Texas A&M, the No. 7 team in the country, started 4-for-4 to try and take control of Tuesday night’s matchup at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. 

It didn’t work.The Wildcats and Aggies would find themselves in the midst of several runs against each other and end up tight at the half at 31-29 in favor of Texas A&M.

For Arizona, in the early going it looked like a lot of the same kind of things that got them in trouble to start the season, defensive breakdowns and lack of continuity on offense. They cleaned it up quickly to go on a 9-0 run and take the lead by six. 

It wasn’t the usual cast of characters in the first half that did damage. Deandre Ayton was relatively quiet offensively and so was Allonzo Trier. The two combined for just seven points on just 3-of-7 shooting. Instead, it was role players like Dylan Smith who poured in a team-high 11 points going 3-for-3 from three to help keep the Wildcats in the lead.

The Aggies were able to re-establish themselves in the paint towards the end of the half. Forward Tyler Davis scored six of his eight points in the last five minutes to pace Texas A&M. 

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