COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&m’s explosive offense didn’t make an appearance Tuesday night. Its defense made sure things turned out fine anyway.

The Aggies (1-0) forced 25 Alabama State turnovers and shot 48 free throws — making 29 — as a late 15-0 run pushed a consistent A&M lead into a 97-66 rout.

“Our guys played hard,” A&M coach Bucky McMillan said. “We only had 11 turnovers, which is a positive. We turned them over 25 times. You can’t do that without playing hard.”

The Aggies’ offseason acquisitions came through in their first appearances in maroon and white. Guard PJ Haggerty led all scorers with 22 points, followed by guard Jordan Pope’s 17. Former Loyola Marymount forward Jalen Shelley had a double-double in his first game in an A&M uniform, with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Mackenzie Mgbako, who missed all but seven games of last season, added 12 points, 5 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

“Jalen Shelley rebounding the ball was great. Pope was great; Haggerty is always going to score,” McMillan said.

The Aggies never trailed, scoring the first four points of the season on a pair of free throws from Pope and a layup from Haggerty. But they had trouble shaking off the Hornets for much of the first half, as they went 6 minutes, 56 seconds without a shot made from the floor, turned the ball over seven times and only hit two of 10 3-point attempts.

But one thing they did is go to the free throw line. A lot. The Aggies shot 28 free throws in the first half, making 18 of them. That was enough to offset Alabama State’s one-man offense of Mike James, who scored 10 of his 16 points in the opening stanza. The Aggies outscored the Hornets 18-9 over the final seven minutes of the half to go into the locker room with a 44-29 lead.

Alabama State scored the first five points of the second half to narrow the lead back to 10, but the Aggies responded with a 12-0 run that included four points from Mbako, five from Haggerty and a 3 from Pope to cap the run scoring spurt.

The Hornets cut the lead back to 12 at 58-46 with 11:52 remaining, but the Aggies then took over. A 17-7 run over the next five minutes essentially put the game out of reach, but a 15-0 outburst that included seven points from Tyshawn Archie (11 points, 3 assists) and five from Haggerty pushed A&M’s lead to 94-62 with 1:30 left.

“I think that 97 points is the minimum we could’ve scored in that game,” McMillan said. “We had 30 points off turnovers, turning them over 25 times. Overall, I don’t think our guys played their A game when it came to skill. I think the strength of this team will be getting to the line. Going 29-for-48 in your home gym at the free throw line can’t happen. I do think you’ll see we’re a more physical team. We’ve got to get a lot better.”