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Texas A&M Basketball: Providence preview, predicton, and how to watch

By Mary Catherine McCord

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 18: A view of the NCAA logos prior to the game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Northwestern Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 18, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 18: A view of the NCAA logos prior to the game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Northwestern Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 18, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /
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After missing out in 2017, the Texas A&M Basketball team is in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and will open the tournament against the Providence Friars.

If you were holding your breath, Aggie fans, you can let it go now. After missing the 2017 tournament, the Texas A&M Aggies (20-12, 9-9) are safely in the 2018 NCAA Tournament as a 7-seed, and will open the tournament against the 10-seed Providence Friars (21-13, 10-8).

The last time the Aggies made the tournament they pulled off the most impossible comeback in the history of the NCAA Tournament. No, really. The computers gave A&M a less than 1-percent chance to win with 44 seconds left in the game, and the comeback is the largest in the last-minute of a game ever. Click here to relive that incredible day.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? In November this team was ranked as high as number five and considered by many to maybe be a contender in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments. Then conference play rolled around and the Aggies dropped their first five in a row. All of a sudden the question became “will the Aggies even make the tournament?”

Texas A&M won seven of their last 10 games heading into the SEC Tournament and even though they bowed out early (darn you, Collin Sexton. But man is Sexton verses TJ Starks going to be fun to watch for the next few years!), they find themselves as the No. 5 ranked team overall in the tournament. Not bad, when you consider what could have been.

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How to Watch

Date: Friday, Mar. 15
Time: 11:15 a.m. CT
Venue: Spectrum Center
Location: Charlotte, NC
TV: CBS
Streaming: NCAA.com, CBS All Access

Keys to Victory

TJ Starks has really come into his own since senior Duane Wilson went down with his ACL injury. He’s had his freshman moments (hello, regular season finale against Alabama), but he’s also played exceptionally well since January and given the Aggies every chance to win.

Much like Chennedy Carter on the women’s side, though, he can’t do it alone. Texas A&M is at its most dangerous when DJ Hogg and Admon Gilder are lighting it up from three. Robert Williams has been fairly quiet in the last few games as well and will have to find a way to get going again if the Aggies are going to have any kind of chance.

RELATED: 3 things to know about Providence

Providence is a dangerous team for the Aggies to face in the first round. BPI gives A&M a 64.1 percent chance to win, but consider this: Providence beat two of the four number one seeds in this tournament at some point this season.

They beat Villanova – the overall number two seed – in February and then took them to overtime in the Big East Championship Game. They ultimately lost that one. They defeated the fourth number one, Xavier, 81-72 in January, and again in overtime in the Big East Semifinals. In short, this team won’t back down from a challenge.

The Friars are led by senior forward Rodney Bullock, who is averaging 14.0 points per game this season. He is one of three players who are averaging double digits this season. Senior guard Jalen Lindsey leads the team from beyond the arc, where he is shooting just under 40 percent on the season.

Prediction

As my brother said the other day, “our best is better than their best. Our best is better than just about anyone in the country. It just depends on whether or not our best shows up.” He’s right. At their best the Aggies were a fringe number one seed in the NCAA Tournament with real hopes of cutting down the nets for the first time ever.

At worst, they were probably somewhere between an NIT lock and a fringe CBI team. Thank goodness the team found a way to band together and get into the Big Dance.

The emergence of TJ Starks was huge for keeping the Aggies’ March hopes alive, and he’ll need to have a great game for the Aggies to get to the second weekend.

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Regardless, it’s going to be a really close game. If this game comes down to free throws, Providence has the edge as their team free throw percentage is just over 70 percent while the Aggies is about 67 percent.

Here’s hoping Charlotte is a little kinder to the basketball team than it was to the football team.

Prediction: Texas A&M 82, Providence 80

***all stats come from espn.com***