Instant Reaction: Texas A&M Basketball Throttles #6 Tennessee; Will Aggies Be Ranked?

Texas A&M Basketball Embarrasses Top-10 Tennessee at Reed; Could Aggies End Up Ranked This Week?

It seems that Buzz WIlliams finally has this Texas A&M basketball team on an upward incline. After a decent start and what felt like a very extended valley at the end of non-conference into the beginning of conference play, the Aggies have stitched together three straight wins, with the last two in dominant fashion.

Of course, it's one thing to shellack an overmatched Missouri team on the road. It is entirely another thing for this Texas A&M basketball team to defeat a top-10 Tennessee squad by almost 20 points.

The Aggies, and Wade Taylor in particular, had the three-pointer working early in this one, helping them out to a sizeable lead early on. Not only the long ball, but suffocating defense on the other end let Tennessee know that they were in much deeper waters than they had previously imagined.

Even so, the Vols made a couple of runs. Especially within the last few minutes, they did not show any quite—something you'd expect out of a Rick Barnes-coached team. Perhaps the most impressive thing for the Aggies, though, is that they were able to turn back the tide of a comeback every single time.

Tyrece Radford led the Aggies with 27 to go along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and Wade Taylor was not far behind with 25 of his own. Taylor also notched 7 assists.

With this win, the Aggies climb to 15-8 and 6-4 in conference, as well as add another vital Quad 1 win. They have two more Quad 1 games upcoming over their next four contests, with road trips to face Alabama and this same Tennessee squad closing out the month.

With such a dominating win over such an impressive opponent, the question has to be asked—will the Aggies be included in the poll this week? My gut feeling is "no" at the moment, though I think they certainly have caught the eye of the pollsters with this result. Now, if you can knock off the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa next week, we may be talking.

Regardless, though, the Aggies are moving in the right direction. It comes at just the right time, too, as they are facing their toughest stretch of the season. This is make-or-break time for the Big Dance, and tonight's result helped in a huge way.