Texas A&M Grabs No. 2 Seed In SEC Tournament After Win vs. Alabama
No. 24 in the nation, No. 2 in the SEC Tournament. It's safe to say that most fans of Texas A&M Men's Basketball will be negating the No. 4 until further notice.
The Aggies nabbed the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament starting Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The Aggies earned a double-round bye and will face off against the winner of No. 7 seed Auburn and No. 10 seed Arkansas on Friday at 6 p.m.
Texas A&M boosted not only its record, but also its status entering the SEC Tournament thanks to a 67-61 win over No. 2 Alabama Saturday at Reed Arena. Wade Taylor IV led A&M (23-8, 15-3 SEC) with 28 points, while Tyrece "Boots" Radford finished with 21.
As a team, A&M shot 34 percent from the field goal range and 25 percent from behind the arc. The Aggies also finished with a season-high 96.4 percent from the free-throw line, only missing one shot with 10:17 left in the second half.
“We’ve had a bunch of ups and downs,” Taylor said of the season. “Nobody thought we would be in this position that we are in today. This team is very resilient. We stayed together throughout this whole process. We are not done.”
A&M held Alabama forward and potential lottery pick Brandon Miller to 10 points and five rebounds in the first half. Miller, the freshman sensation from Antioch, Tennessee, only scored nine more points before fouling out with 1:59 left on the clock.
Fourth-year Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams credited senior Dexter Dennis for his defensive consistency against Miller to set the tone inside the paint.
“Dexter is one of the best defenders that I have ever played with,” Radford said. “He is a warrior defensively and phenomenal offensively also. Him slowing down the ball, always being that pest on the defensive end, is what fueled our defense.”
The Aggies closed out the regular season with 15 conference wins, their most since going 15-3 in the Southwest Conference in 1922-23. A&M also won eight of its last nine games, with the lone defeat coming to Mississippi State on the road last Saturday.
A&M has yet to win the SEC Tournament since joining the conference in 2012. Last season, the Aggies came close after pulling off a mini-Cinderalla run to make the SEC Championship game but ultimately lost to Tennessee in a 65-50 effort.
The Aggies also lost in an 82-77 overtime match to Kentucky in the SEC Championship in 2016.
Here's a list of all the games in order leading up to the SEC Quarterfinals:
Wednesday
No. 13 Ole Miss vs. No. 12 South Carolina
6:00 p.m. on SEC Network
No. 14 LSU vs. No. 11 Georiga
25 minutes following Game 1 on SEC Network
Thursday
No. 9 Florida vs. No. 8 Mississippi State
Noon on SEC Network
Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 5 Tennessee
25 minutes after Game 3 on SEC Network
No. 10 Arkansas vs. No. 7 Auburn
6 p.m. on SEC Network
Winner of Game 2 vs. No. 6 Vanderbilt
25 minutes after Game 5 on SEC Network
Friday
Winner of Game 3 vs. No. 1 Alabama
Noon on ESPN
Winner of Game 4 vs. No. 4 Missouri
25 minutes after Game 7 on ESPN
Winner of Game 5 vs. No. 2 Texas A&M
6:00 p.m. on SEC Network
Winner of Game 6 vs. No. 3 Kentucky
25 minutes after Game 9 on SEC Network
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