By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
When Dorothy told her little dog in The Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” she was preparing them for how difficult things could get when you’re away from home.
Much the way NKU must have felt Friday in College Station, Tex., when the 2-0 Norse had to have been telling themselves that “We’re not in South Dakota anymore.”
Nope, they weren’t. They were in Texas on a travel day’s rest after two successful season-opening games in South Dakota.
And they were tired, as NKU coach Darrin Horn noted on KRC55 Sports after a 104-67 loss to Texas A&M that saw NKU do some good things and still have no shot against the big, athletic, pressuring Aggies, one of the wealthier programs in the football-rich Southeastern Conference where Saturday football brings crowds of 104,000 to Aggieland.
And a conference TV contract that provides even more millions to a program that can afford to buy games like this one – on its schedule and on its floor.
“We’d never schedule three games in five days like this,” Horn said, except for one reason. This was a “buy” game, he said.
As in Texas A&M was able to “buy” this game with a guarantee that will help fill the holes in an athletic budget of mid-major NKU where there are no football riches or TV contracts to make it possible to say no to Texas A&M when they put cash on the table.
“I thought our guys were tired,” Horn said as NKU dropped behind, 9-0, right away and never got closer than seven points the rest of the half while trailing by 20 – 52-32 – at halftime and never really coming closer.
But it was more than being tired, Horn said. “There were six to eight times in the first half when we just didn’t execute,” Horn said. “Give them (Texas A&M) credit . . . but I’d love to have the opportunity to play them again.”
One Norse who did not look tired or lost on the road – again – was 6-foot-2 freshman guard Willie Foster, the Lima, Ohio, product who just keeps on competing like it’s no big deal.
On this night, Foster fired in a game-high 23 points in 33 minutes on eight-of-18 shooting. “He’s the one guy who came out and played (the way NKU needed him to),” Horn said. “He was aggressive. “He belongs anywhere in any game in the country,” Horn said.
Foster’s transfer guard-mates, Eric Acker and BJ Davis-Ray, got into this one a bit late with Acker finishing with 14 points and Davis-Ray 11. NKU big man, 6-8 Noah Pagotto, had a tougher time of it against A&M’s big, deep, athletic front-line guys mostly 6-9 and up. The Australian scored eight points with five rebounds in 22 minutes.
Despite the final score, NKU managed to compete in some areas, pulling down 38 rebounds to A&M’s 39, and outscoring the Aggies, 20 (out of 25) at the line to 10 (of 17).
But NKU was outshot badly from the field, hitting just 34.5 percent (20 of 58), while committing 23 turnovers to A&M’s nine. The Aggies shot 54.7 percent from the field on 41 of 75.
Unfortunately for NKU, the travel doesn’t ease up. The Norse will return to Highland Heights Saturday, rest a day and then head out Monday for another “buy” game at Saint Louis before returning for the home opener against Central Michigan next Saturday.
SCORING SUMMARY
NKU (2-1) 32 35–67
TEXAS A&M (2-0) 52-52—104
NKU 101
Foster 8 18 3 8 4 4 23, Acker 5-9 0-4 4-5 14, Davis-Ray 3-13 3 5 2 2 11, Pagotto 2 5 0 0 4 8 8, Shortt 1 3 0 0 0 0, Rakotonanahary 0-1 0-0 4-4 4, Apathjang 1-2 1-2 0-0 3, Jokubauskas 0-4 0-4 2-2 2, Tolliver 0 3 0 1 0 0 0, Ruiz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0, Darbyshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; TOTALS: 20-58 7-24 20-25—67
TEXAS A&M 104
Pope 7 9 3 5 1 1 18, Mgbako 5 13 2 5 2 4 14, Shelley 5-10 1-3 2-3 13, Cade 6 8 0 0 0 0 12, Haggerty 4 6 2 2 0 2 10, Archie 5 6 2 3 0 0 12, Griffen 2 5 2 4 2 2 8, Clemence 3 6 0 2 2 3 8, Mundey 2 3 0 1 0 0 4, Irving 2 2 0 0 0 0 4, Vinson 0 1 0 0 1 2 1, Reece 0 3 0 2 0 0 0, Walls 0 2 0 2 0 0 0, Green 0 1 0 0 0 0 0, McDermott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; TOTALS: 41-75 12-29 10-17—104