A parade to the free throw line pushed No. 23 Texas A&M past No. 21 Ohio State

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M guard Manny Obaseki took a deep breath as the ball rested between his hip and dangling arm. He stepped up, bent his knees and fired a shot that went into the net.

The key to this free throw routine is simplicity, something the senior needs in this aspect of his game.

On Friday, when the 23rd-ranked Aggies defeated No. 21 Ohio State 78-64 at Reed Arena, Obaseki went through that same routine eight times and watched nine sail through the net. It was a microcosm of A&M’s team effort, with 32 of 40 free throws sailing through the rim.

“Shout out to (head coach) Buzz (Williams) for making us shoot 100 free throws every day after practice,” Obaseki said.

The senior has struggled at the free throw line throughout his career at A&M, with a 75% clip during his sophomore year being his best performance. Last season, that dropped to 58% from the free throw line, with only two performances above 75% with five or more free throws.

This offseason, Obaseki has changed his routine before taking a free throw, using a few seconds to compose himself before stepping to the line. Mastering the adrenaline needed to attack the rim off the dribble has been a key factor in his recent free throw success.

“I go 100 miles per hour a lot of times, so if I get fouled and I’m at the free-throw line, I have to slow myself down, get my body temperature in the right place and focus on that free throw,” he said.

A&M’s goal was to pace Ohio State from the start, but that didn’t do much for the Aggies’ shooting. Both teams started a combined 2 for 21 from the field, with a pair of three-pointers being the only ones that fell through the net. A&M would get the first spark off the court on a pair of three-pointers from guard Wade Taylor IV and transfer guard CJ Wilcher.

“I thought they accelerated us on offense when we got to half court,” Diebler said. “This was a difficult, difficult match because we wanted to play at a high pace against the press, which I don’t think we could do in the first half. We did much better in the second half. When we got to the half court, we wanted to play with more balance, and in the first half we played at an accelerated pace.”

However, the parade to the free throw line started just four minutes into the game. By the time Taylor and Wilcher drained their shots from behind the arc, the Aggies had climbed to a 10-point lead thanks to six points from the charity stripe.

The Aggies reached the bonus with seven minutes left in the first half.

By halftime, the Aggies took a 31-22 lead into the locker room, with half of the points coming on free throws.

“I think free throws are a big part of what we do and we want it to be a big part of what we do,” Williams said.

The shooting game opened up a little more for the Aggies in the second half, dropping 13 field goals. However, 17 points came from the free throw line.

The Aggies succumbed to major upsets in their season-opening loss to UCF in another close game. Friday, Williams said while they sometimes made unfortunate mistakes, it was a lesson learned.

“Those were words from our players on the floor, words from our players off the floor,” Williams said. “The buy-in was huge in terms of time, score, momentum and offensively. I thought we did a much better job in the last eight minutes to close out the game than we did in Orlando.”

Obaseki finished square with Taylor on a team-high 15 points in the match. Taylor finished 7 for 7 at the free throw line and went 2 for 4 from 3-point range before fouling out with two minutes to play. Guard Zhuric Phelps and forward Henry Coleman III rounded out the double-digit scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The Aggies held an Ohio State team that hit 14 3-pointers in a season-opening win over Texas through eight Friday. Guard Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with 15 points, including one 3-pointer, followed by John Mobley Jr.’s 13 points. and three from behind the arc. Mobley went 3 of 7 from 3-point range after starting the game at an 86% clip.

“I think we were great defensively in the first half,” Williams said. “I would say… analytically I would say this is the best 20 minutes we’ve had.”

The NET rankings are still weeks away from their opening release, but Friday’s matchup is expected to be the Aggies’ first Quadrant I win of the season in a non-conference full of marquee matchups including Oregon, Creighton, Texas Tech and Purdue.

But more important for Williams Friday, Obaseki made good on a week of best practices as an Aggie.

“I really think he’s at the point where we’ve said all the things he understands and all the things he knows, and he just has to do it,” Williams said. “And I think he received that in the right way. When we started the meeting yesterday, I said to the staff, ‘I could be wrong, but my instincts are that MO will be very good tomorrow.'”