Texas A&M looks to build off strong debut showing vs. Texas Southern

Bucky Ball is off to a quick start at Texas A&M.

New Aggies coach Bucky McMillan guided his team to a 98-68 win Monday night in its season opener against Northwestern State (La.). The Aggies shot 49.3% from the field while forcing 16 turnovers and earning a 48-24 advantage in points in the paint.

Texas A&M will try to build on that performance Thursday night when it hosts Texas Southern in College Station.

Ruben Dominguez pumped in 18 points on Monday night, going 4-of-7 on 3-pointers, and Federiko Federiko tallied eight points and eight rebounds. Defensively, the Aggies limited the Demons to 23-of-58 shooting (39.7%) from the field.

"This team is way further ahead than I would've expected with this many new players," McMillan said. "But we need to have 40 minutes of unrelenting effort. Half-court defense got beat too much. We need to be more aggressive."

McMillan, who guided Samford to the Southern Conference title in 2024 and nearly shocked Kansas in a first-round matchup, brought in nearly an entire new roster. Texas A&M was tabbed for a 13th-place finish in the 16-team Southeastern Conference.

While the Aggies found early success, Texas Southern did not. The Tigers fell 98-43 Monday night at No. 21 Gonzaga in their season opener, making just 15 of 59 attempts from the field and being trounced 56-27 on the boards.

Texas Southern, which finished fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference last season, has been picked to place fifth in 2025-26. Its top returning player is senior guard Zaire Hayes, a preseason second-team All-SWAC choice after averaging 10.4 points per game last season and connecting on 47 3-pointers.

Hayes sat out Monday night, and the Tigers simply didn't have the firepower to hang with the Zags. Jaylen Wysinger and Duane Posey each scored eight points to lead the attack, with Wysinger making 2 of 5 3-pointers. The rest of the team was 1-for-16.

--Field Level Media