It was quite the regular season for the Texas A&M Aggies basketball team.
Coming into March Madness, the Aggies had weathered plenty of ups and downs during that regular season. The downs had come late, when the Aggies suffered a four-game losing streak. After beating the top dog in the country for the first time in school history in the Auburn Tigers, things started to look up.
Following a dogfight in the SEC quarterfinals against the Texas Longhorns that ended in a double overtime loss, the Aggies were quickly ruled out by many analysts seconds after the Aggies' first round opponent was revealed. The Ags quickly shut down any upset discussion and did it in mostly dominating fashion.
Aggies stayed true to their grit and grind roots to beat Yale
The biggest impact player of the game was no doubt the 6-foot-9 junior Pharrel Payne. Yale had no answer for Payne's phenominal post play. As Payne got deeper inside the paint, there was no response by the Bulldogs for Payne's insane physicality.
Payne finished with a career high in points with 25. He also finished 10 rebounds and was the clear answer to start the second half after Buzz Williams gave Henry Coleman III the nod to start the game.
"Our players were prepared for the plan, and the adjustments to the plan," Williams said to Dana Jacobsen after the game.
Even though the Aggies still shot at a low three-point percentage at just 24 percent compared to Yale's 38 percent, the Aggies shot a better field goal percentage overall with the Aggie defense hounding Yale anytime they got the opportunity.
Williams' squad showed the country that any upset chatter wasn't even close to being on the table, as the Aggies led for pretty much the whole game, and when Yale got a slither of hope, the Aggies always had an answer for Yale threatening to come back.
Whether or not they play UC San Diego or Michigan, both of those teams are in for a rough time if they have to go against Payne.
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