Andersson Garcia's Miracle Not Enough, Aggies Fall to Houston in Heartbreaking Overtime Loss

The Texas A&M Aggies' run in the NCAA Tournament has come to an end after falling to the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars on Sunday night.

Texas A&M v Houston / Stacy Revere/GettyImages

The No. 9 seed Texas A&M Aggies were looking to make history on Sunday night, and upset the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately for A&M, their upset bid came up just short, falling to the Cougars 100-95 in overtime, after a back-and-forth battle at FedEx Forum in Memphis.

Despite being significant underdogs at +8.5 entering the matchup, the Aggies gave the Cougars everything they could handle and more, trailing by just five after the first half.

Things improved even more for the Aggies in half No. 2, with Texas A&M outscoring Kelvin Sampson's bunch 48-43 in the second frame. Still, despite the stellar half, the Aggies found themselves down three with just seconds remaining in regulation.

Luckily, Andersson Garcia was up for the challenge, hitting a miracle three to tie the game up and send it into overtime as time expired - a shot that Aggies coach Buzz Williams believes to be one of the biggest in program history.

“Obviously, it’s a shot that will go down in Texas A&M lore,” Williams said. “But it was to tie. It wasn’t to win.”

From there, however, the Cougars offense took control of the proceedings, winning the overtime period by five, and taking hom the 100-95 win.

"I think it was the same problem that we'd had the first 40 minutes," Williams said. "Fighting incredibly hard to get consecutive stops. I think we probably scored enough, just we couldn't get enough stops."

The Aggies will now end the season with a total record of 21-15 and in their second-straight NCAA Tournament under Williams.

There will be turnover in College Station, however, with seniors like Garcia, Henry Coleman III and Tyrece Radford all likely playing their last games in Maroon and White. Meanwhile, Wade Taylor IV could have NBA prospects.

That said, as long as Williams remains at the helm, the Aggies should have another solid shot to return to the Big Dance in 2025.