He Might Not Be Drafted 1st Or 2nd Like Oden & Durant, But A&M Guard Acie Law Is Still Very Good:
While he’s no Kevin Durant (Texas) or Greg Oden (Ohio St.), Texas A&M guard Acie Law IV is about as good as anyone in College Basketball. On Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse, the Aggies used a 17-4 run to close the game and rallied from a double-figure second half deficit to defeat the Jayhawks – predicted by many to finish atop the Big 12 – 69-66. Law was a major reason why, finishing with 23 points after a relatively sub-par first half. It marked the first ever win for Texas A&M against Kansas.
Law seems to be at his best down the stretch in games. In last March’s NCAA Tournament, he scored 10 straight points in a win over Syracuse. His team nearly beat LSU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and would’ve if not for a late dramatic shot by the Tigers. This season in a tight win over Oklahoma, Law scored 12 of the Aggies’ final 13 point as they held off the Sooners. Against a Jayhawks team on Saturday that had an 11-game home winning streak, Law rose to the occasion once again.
As his team trailed 64-58, Law went to the rack, got a hoop and drew the foul. He converted the three-point play at the line, trimming his team’s deficit to three against a Kansas team that had dominated them all night long on the boards, particularly with second chance put-backs. The Jayhawks on the very next possession missed the front-end of a one-and-one, and on the other end, Antanas Kavaliauskas scored on a foul. A&M was able to tie the game on his free-throw, but KU responded and went ahead 66-64.
There are few really clutch players in College Basketball, at least to the level of Law. Raising the bar, Law drilled a three-pointer to put A&M up 67-66 with 23.9 seconds remaining. Receiving the inbounds pass in the right corner, all he did was give his defender a jab-step and then fired it in the hole. Great players want to take those kind of shots at the end of games; Law is no exception. With 5.2 seconds left, he calmly sank a pair of free-throws, extending the Aggies’ lead to 69-66. A desperation three-point attempt by Kansas was no good and A&M – behind the brilliant, clutch play of Law – earned arguably their biggest win in the Billy Gillispie (one of the best coaches and most underrated coaches in the business) era.
A&M, which was previously 0-11 all-time vs. Kansas, no longer should be taken lightly. They’re a team to be reckoned with come March and one that could be playing in the Final Four.
