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A homecoming for four of Hartford's members, three being seniors, playing Texas A&M was never going to be an easy match up. While the crowd heavily favored the Aggies, there were about 100 or so fans for the Hawks in Reed Arena.
Both teams were cold shooting. Neither the Hawks or the Aggies made ten shots the entire half. Hartford shot 6 for 24 and A&M shot only a little better at 8 for 25. A mix of good defense and bad shooting made this a low scoring game. The Hartford team that went shot for shot with Notre Dame in their first half was nowhere to be found. Despite their lack of shots, they only trailed by six at the half.
Hartford is known to live or die by the three point line, and tonight, they had issues in the first half, but heated up in the second half. Unfortunately for John Gallagher and his team, their shooting improved but not in time to win them the game. Though their fight managed to prevent A&M from running away with the game.
They attempted 32 but only made a total of eight shots from beyond the arc, most coming in the second half. Only two Hawks made double figures, Mark Nwakamma coming in with 13 points and Corban Wroe chiming in with 10. None of the Hartford bench made any shots, something that hasn't happened all season.
If you watched the game on the SEC Network, one of the things you would have heard multiple times is that "Hartford's sticking around". And they were. Whenever the Aggies would go on a run, the Hawks would hit a major play to stop the bleeding.
Wroe drew a few offensive fouls, Taylor Dyson hit three from downtown, Yolonzo Moore II had a team high four steals, and Nwakamma finally got into a groove grabbing four shots and going five for five at the free throw line. The only impressive stat they managed was keeping Texas A&M from making any three point shots. Though most of that is on the Aggie's end, missing all 13 they threw up.
Evening out at 7-7 for the season, Hartford looks to bounce back from their losses and go 1-1 in America East play when they host Binghamton on Wednesday January 7th.