On Thursday night during the first full day of the NCAA Tournament, the seven-seeded Texas A&M Aggies took on the 10-seed Penn State Nittany Lions in the last game of the night, quickly resulting in a two-hour nightmare for an Aggie squad that looked unprepared for the offensive buzzsaw (no pun intended) Penn State unleashed from start to finish, falling 76-59 in a game that was essentially over at halftime.
In their first tournament appearance since the 2018 season and first under Head coach Buzz Williams, controversy surrounded the Aggies’ low seeding after going 26-9 and 15-3 in the SEC during the regular season, matched up against one of the hottest teams coming into the tourney as Penn State had won 8 out of their last 10 and nearly beating 1-seed Purdue in the Big 10 Championship Title Game.
Well, that hot streak continued against Texas A&M to the tune of a 13-22 shooting performance from deep, including 8-11 from guard Andrew Funk (27 points), and an efficient 19 points from AP All-American guard Jalen Pickett. Plain and simple, it just wasn’t A&M’s night after shooting 33.9% from the field in one of their most discombobulated performances of the season, as Wade Taylor IV’s 2-10 (10 points) shooting performance doomed the team’s chances to develop any early rhythm on offense, as the budding superstar surely knows that through adversity comes strength and opportunity down the line.
Looking ahead, Head coach Buzz Williams (76-47 with A&M) has Texas A&M on the right path after four seasons of continued improvement year to year, developing a culture of hard work and dedication to education as well as athletics, it’s no surprise that some of the top-tier prospects are beginning to place the Aggies on their radar. With the potential to return four out of five starters from this season made up of Wade Taylor IV, Henry Coleman III, Julius Marble, and yes, even Tyrece “Boots” Radford, the Aggies are just a couple of pure shooters away from being right back in contention for their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
In the transfer portal, a number of talented players have entered their names including former Vanderbilt shooting guard Myles Stute (43% from 3-point) and former Wofford guard Jackson Paveletzke (34% from 3-point), two players who would provide instant perimeter offense to pair with Texas A&M’s potent inside presence of Coleman and Marble.
As the offseason progresses, remember that time does in fact heal all wounds, and after taking another big step towards their ultimate goal of contending for a National Championship. Gig ‘Em, and BTHO off-season.
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