Texas A&M Aggies Collapse Late, Fall to UCF Knights in Season Opener

Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball fell to a scrappy UCF Knights team in the 2024-25 season opener.

Feb 13, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Texas A&M Aggies guard Wade Taylor IV (4) reacts after being called for a foul during the second half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

The Texas A&M Aggies entered the 2024-25 men's basketball season with experience, continuity and talent but that wasn't enough to snag a season-opening win on the road Monday against the UCF Knights.

No. 13 Texas A&M (0-1) was up 11 with 6:24 to play in the second half but went cold from the field and eventually collapsed as UCF rallied to secure a 64-61upset win.

Aggies guard CJ Wilcher nearly banked in a game-tying triple as time expired but it bounced off. The fans then stormed the court at Addition Financial Arena.

Texas A&M guard Wade Taylor IV was held in check compared to his usual big-time scoring standards but the veteran stayed steady and led the Aggies offense en route to finishing with 13 points and seven assists. However, it wasn't enough. Texas A&M forward Pharrel Payne had a team-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds.

UCF guard Darius Johnson had a game-high 24 points on 5 of 11 from 3-point range while UTSA transfer guard Jordan Ivy-Curry had 16 points and five reounds in his Knights debut.

Texas A&M jumped out to a 6-0 lead that Taylor IV eventually built to 11-2 after hitting an early triple. The Aggies eventually got up by double digits at 16-6 but UCF responded. Led by Ivy-Curry and Johnson, Knights hit a flurry of 3-pointers to take a 28-27 lead with 3:19 to play in the half.

The teams headed into halftime tied up at 29-all. The Aggies had eight turnovers in the first half. Payne was A&M's leading scorer with four points while Taylor IV was held to just three points in the opening 20 minutes.

To start the second half, Taylor IV started to catch a rhytm while Johnson picked up where he left off for UCF. The two players traded a pair of 3-pointer each in the first three minutes of the half.

Payne then scored six straight points for the Aggies to give Texas A&M a 42-37 lead at the 16:01 mark. A quick 7-0 run highlighted by a triple from Wilcher put the Aggies back in front by 10 at 49-39 a few minutes later. A scoring slump by UCF allowed Texas A&M to build its largest lead of 11 at 54-43.

The Knights slowly cut into the lead with five straight free throws, but Taylor IV sucked the momentum out of Addition Financial Arena by hitting a deep triple off the bounce to put the Aggies up 59-50.

But the Knights responded by eventually putting together a 12-2 run to take a 62-61 lead with less than a minute to play. The Aggies went over four minutes without hitting a field goal.

Taylor IV attemped a potential go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute but was off the mark. He then lost the ball out of bounds on a drive to the rim with 15.2 seconds left.

The Aggies had three shots at tying the game in the closing seconds but all three attempts from beyond the arc missed.

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