3 reasons Texas A&M basketball topples top-seeded Houston Cougars in March Madness

How Texas A&M basketball beats Houston: Aggies' grit and toughness will shine through

In the last matchup, the rebounds were completely even—37 to 37. Andersson Garcia, however, only notched 4 total rebounds in 28 minutes of play.

By the numbers, the Cougars are not a great defensive rebounding team. If Garcia, Coleman—even Solo can have a big night on the boards, that will go a long way towards the Aggies being able to pull off this upset.

One thing that I think will carry over from last matchup is the foul shooting. The Cougars foul—a lot. The Aggies are usually the beneficiaries of a lot of trips to the line, and score a lot from the charity stripe.

The foul shot disparity in the previous matchup was sizeable. The Aggies shot 22 free throws to the Cougars' 8. I would not at all be surprised if we see a similar outcome Sunday night.

Now, the Aggies have to make those free throws—they are not a great team as regards percentage from the free throw line. But with the way these guards have been shooting the ball, I think things could break the Aggies' way here too. Taylor has had little trouble from the line. Radford is clutch. Obaseki has improved a lot with his shot.

This is a gritty team the Aggies will be facing. It will be a grind of a game. But that's a style the Aggies are ready and willing to play. Who will emerge? I think there's great reason to believe it will be the Maroon and White advancing when all is said and done.