Aggies earn second-round matchup with Cougars

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Texas A&M men’s basketball team’s first victory at the NCAA Tournament since 2018 earned the Aggies’ a second chance at the Houston Cougars, who earned a 70-66 neutral site victory earlier this season at the Toyota Center in Houston.

The Aggies face off against the Cougars at 7:40 p.m. on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a trip to the South Regional at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on the line.
The 9-seed Aggies advanced by upsetting 8-seed Nebraska, 98-83, on Friday, while the Cougars dismantled 16-seed Longwood, 86-46.
On 12/16, the Cougars raced to a 21-point advantage, but the Aggies rallied to knot the score at 63-63 with 1:30 remaining before succumbing 70-66. For the full recap+box, go to page 3 of the game notes.
Like Nebraska, the Cougars are former conference rivals for the Aggies. The two teams were both members of the Southwest Conference, which played its final season in 1995-96.
In the SWC, the two teams played at least twice annually from 1976-96 and the Cougars remain one of the Aggies’ most-played rivals. In total, the two teams have played 86 times, with UH holding a 54-32 advantage in the series.

TV/RADIO INFORMATION

The game will be televised by TNT with Spero Dedes (play-by-play), Jim Spanarkel (analyst) and Jon Rothstein (reporter) on the call.
Westwood One has the national radio call with John Sadak (play-by-play) and Tom Crean (analyst) describing the action.
The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network, locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM or worldwide on the 12th Man Mobile App with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton describing the action.

TRENDS AND NOTABLES

Wade Taylor IV entered the NCAA Tournament on a heater, having averaged 25.3 points over his past four games, including 30-point efforts vs. Kentucky (32) and Florida (30) in the SEC Tournament. He stayed hot in the NCAA Tournament first round with a game-high 25 points, including a career-best seven 3-pointers. He had 17 points with five treys in the first half alone against the Huskers.
Similarly, Tyrece Radford has been instrumental in the Aggies 6-1 record this month while averaging 18.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. “Boots” slashed 20/10/5 against Cornhuskers.
The Aggies improved to 15-2 when Radford hits the 20-point plateau in his three seasons at Texas A&M, including 9-1 in 2023-24.
Manny Obaseki’s recent insertion into the starting lineup has coincided with the Aggies’ strong March. Obaseki made his first start in nearly two years vs. UGa on 3/2 as the Aggies rolled off five straight wins on the way to a 6-1 March.
As a starter, Obaseki has averaged 16.7 points and 3.0 rebounds, while connecting on over 50.0% of his 3-point tries (11-of-20). Against NU, “MO” scored 22 points, while making 3-of-5 from deep.
Since Obaseki’s insertion in the starting lineup, the guard trio of Obaseki, Taylor and Radford is scoring 56.0 points of the Aggies’ 85.1 per game (65.8%) -- 20.4 by Taylor, 18.9 by Radford and 16.7 by Obaseki.
Solomon Washington moved into the starting lineup in mid-January and has responded with 8.6 points/6.2 rebounds since 1/16. Over the past six games, ‘Solo” is slashing 12.3/8.2 with a pair of double-doubles.
Andersson Garcia is the SEC leader in offensive (153) and total rebounds (322), while breaking school records in both categories. He’s the first 6-foot-7 or shorter SEC player to reach 300 boards since Auburn’s Cinmeon Bowers had 326 in 2014-15.
One of the nation’s worst shooting teams for much of the season, the Aggies have shown marked improvement in the month of March, hitting 44.0% from the field and 39.3% from deep in seven games this month (6-1).
Andersson Garcia’s 153 offensive rebounds are tied for No. 6 SEC season total since 1996-97. He needs four offensive rebounds to surpass Dwayne Curtis (Ole Miss), Jarnell Stokes (Tennessee) and DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) into third behind Oscar Tshiebwe’s 184 in 2022-23 and 179 in 2021-22.
Texas A&M is the SEC leader in rebounding margin at 8.9 and rebounds per game at 42.6.
Texas A&M leads the nation in offensive rebounds/game at 17.2 and have logged 20 or more offensive caroms in nine games.
The Aggies shot an average of 5.6 more field goal attempts than their opponents in the regular season (8.3 in the SEC Tournament).
The M&W ranked No. 2 in FTA in the SEC during league play with 23.7/G. The Aggies attempted 119 more FTA than their SEC opponents (6.6/G).
The SEC’s leader in fewest turnovers for the full season and league play, the Aggies are 14-2 when they have nine or fewer turnovers in a game.
It’s the first time the Aggies have gone dancing in consecutive years since Texas A&M, under Billy Gillipsie and later Mark Turgeon, earned six straight invitations from from 2006-11. No other head coaches have taken the Aggies to back-to-back tournaments in program history.
Two-time SEC Coach of the Year Buzz Williams has now guided three schools to at least one victory in NCAA Tournament. He also took Marquette (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and Virginia Tech (2017, 2018, 2019) to the NCAA Tournament.
The 2023-24 Aggies are Williams’ 10th NCAA Tournament team.
Williams holds a 11-9 record in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas A&M holds a 14-16 record in the “Big Dance.”

MILESTONE TO WATCH

Wade Taylor IV needs 31 points to match the school record of 697 by Don Marbury in 1985-86 or 34 to become the first Aggie to reach 700 in a season.

HONOR ROLL

Wade Taylor IV - 1st Team All-SEC (Coaches), 1st Team All-District 20 (NABC), 2nd Team All-SEC (AP)
Andersson Garcia - SEC All-Defensive Team (Coaches)
Tyrece Radford - SEC Community Service Team

FILLING THE BOXSCORE

Wade Taylor IV is the leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament field among players with at least 130 assists and 60 steals.

DOMINICAN RODMAN

Drawing comparisons to former NBA great Dennis Rodman for his tenacious defense and rebounding prowess, senior F Andersson Garcia is the SEC’s top rebounder and one of the nation’s best on the offensive glass.

Recently named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team, the 6-foot-7 Garcia ranks just behind 7-foot-4 defending National POTY Zach Edey of Purdue in offensive rebounds/G at 4.8 to 4.4.
Garcia leads in the SEC with an average of 9.4 rebounds/game, despite being in the starting lineup for only four games. In SEC play, he increased his average to 10.0/G (No. 1).
Garcia reached double-digit rebounds in 10 of 18 SEC games, and once in SEC Tournament play, including three games with 15 or more.
Twice this season, Garcia has reached double-digit rebounds while not attempting a shot -- vs. FAU and against Ole Miss
Had career-highs in offensive, defensive and total rebounds (9/10/19) vs. HCU on 12/22 ... totaled 33 rebounds in back to back games vs. Missouri (16) and Tennessee (17) on 2/7 and 2/10. He was third player in program history with consecutive games of 16 or more rebounds (first since 1995).

Manny in March

Manny Obaseki’s addition to the starting lineup on 3/2 has proven to be a boon to the Aggies’ fortunes as they rolled five straight wins, including four away from Reed Arena, to solidify their place in the NCAA Tournament field.

In fact, Obaseki’s addition may have saved the Aggies’ season since the team was mired in a five-game losing streak before he re-joined the starting lineup.

His start on 3/2 marked his first return to the starting lineup since the NIT Championship game in 2022 -- a span of 63 games.

Prior to 3/2, Obaseki had seen 20 or more minutes of action just three times and only once during SEC player (20 minutes vs. Tennessee). He saw 10 or less minutes in 16 games.

CRASHING THE OFFENSIVE GLASS

With nine games with 20 or more offensive rebounds this season, Texas A&M’s 17.2 offensive rebounds/game ranks No. 1 nationally by a significant margin.

The Aggies average over 2.0 more offensive rebounds/game than any other DI team (No. 2 South Carolina State averages 14.9/G).
In nine games vs. AP Top 25 teams, the Aggies average 17.4 offensive rebounds.
Texas A&M stands atop KenPom’s offensive rebounding percentage at 42.0 which is over 2.0% higher than any other DI team.

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