Texas A&M Basketball: Aggies Take Down #2 Alabama

The Texas A&M basketball team closed out the regular season in bombastic fashion on Saturday, handing the Alabama Crimson Tide their 5th loss of the season (2nd in conference), and staying perfect at Reed Arena against SEC teams. This matchup lost some of its luster following the Aggies’ loss to Mississippi State last weekend and Alabama hanging on for a tight victory over Auburn this past Wednesday, which, if either result had been reversed, would have meant this game was for at least a share of the regular-season conference title.

Nevertheless, this was a huge and meaningful victory for Buzz’s squad. This was not only the highest-ever ranked win for the Texas A&M basketball program, but it clinched a record high as far as conference victories at 15.

The Aggies jumped out to a fast start, leading by as many as 15 in the first half behind a hard-charging defensive effort that left Alabama confused for much of the first 20 minutes. The second half was more back-and-forth, however, with Alabama eventually claiming their first lead of the game at 54-51. That lead was short-lived, as it turned out—Wade Taylor IV, who finished the game with a career-high 28 points on over 50% shooting, hit a game-tying 3 on the very next trip down the court for the Aggies. A&M was never quite able to put the same amount of distance between themselves and the Tide as they had in the first half, but every time Alabama made a run, the Aggies were able to weather the storm.

Attention now turns to the SEC tourney, in which the Aggies will be the second overall seed behind Alabama. With the impressive resume now built by this Texas A&M basketball squad, most prognosticators have them safely in the tournament—however, you can’t be too safe, as we learned last year, so winning at least one game in the SEC tournament will make it so that the Ags aren’t sweating come Selection Sunday.