Texas A&M (25-9, 15-3 SEC) suffered its first loss to Nate Oats to the tune of an 82-63 loss to Alabama (29-5, 16-12 SEC) in the 2023 SEC Championship game. After knocking off the Crimson Tide just last weekend, the Aggies were unable to put together a sequel performance as the SEC’s No. 1 seed evened the score Sunday afternoon.
Despite a first-half performance from the Aggies where everything that could go awry did, A&M managed to hang around and match Alabama’s physicality through much of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Crimson Tide put together a performance late down the stretch that proved why they are one of the top teams in the country.
The top two teams in the SEC traded back-and-forth shots right out of the gate with Alabama shooting lights out from tip-off. The Crimson Tide began the afternoon going 6-for-9 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. Charles Bediako spearheaded the Tide’s defense in the paint with an emphatic block early on.
On the other side of the matchup, it took a minute for A&M’s Wade Taylor IV to find his footing as he started 0-3 from the floor. The Aggies played from behind early with a 16-8 deficit through the first five minutes.
The one saving grace that helped the Aggies hang around was getting the Crimson Tide into early foul trouble, particularly by drawing two charges on Brandon Miller. Both Miller and Noah Clowney were forced to the bench with 12 minutes to go in the first half with two personal fouls apiece.
A&M unfortunately was allergic to the basket for an elongated stretch in the latter 10 minutes with the Aggies going a rough 1-for-13 from the floor. Bediako’s three blocks, coupled with Jahvon Quinerly’s 13 points, helped the Crimson Tide build their double-digit lead to 13.
In light of going more than eight minutes without a field goal, A&M managed to tread water by going 10-for-12 from the charity stripe while baiting Williams into his third personal foul before the half. Despite Taylor going without a bucket in the first 20 minutes, the Aggies headed to the locker room down by just 11, a huge victory with all the momentum working against them.
Texas A&M leaders at the half: Dexter Dennis (6 points, 3 rebounds), and Julius Marble (5 points, 2-3 field goals). Team: 20.7% from the field. 25% (1-4) from 3-point, 10-12 from the free throw line, and 22 rebounds.
Alabama leaders at the half: Jahvon Quinerly (13 points, 3-4 three-pointers), and Brandon Miller (8 points, 6 rebounds). Team: 40.7% from the field. 33% (6-18) from 3-point, 6-10 from the free throw line, and 21 rebounds.
HALFTIME: Texas A&M: 23, Alabama: 34
The final 20 minutes got off to a fast and furious start with Dexter Dennis and Tyrece Radford sinking some big shots to push A&M to the doorstep of cutting the deficit to single digits. But the Quinerly-Bediako show continued in the second half as the Crimson Tide continued to keep the lead around 13 points.
As we’ve seen all season, the Aggies are not a team to go down easy and they ramped up the defensive pressure with close to 12 minutes to go in the title game. With more intensive on-ball pressure and at the line of scrimmage, a Julius Marble forced turnover and basket cut the deficit to single digits for the first time since early in the first half.
Both teams traded baskets down the stretch, but the Crimson Tide finally opened the floodgates with back-to-back threes to build their lead to 16 with 6:46 left to go.
With Taylor and Marble both playing with four personal fouls apiece, A&M suffered from a lack of a scoring punch to match Alabama. A made three by Rylan Griffen gave the Crimson Tide their biggest lead of the game at 21 points. Alabama would never surrender their lead moving forward, fending off the Aggies with a final score of 82-63.
Despite falling in the SEC title game for the second-consecutive season there is no time for A&M to hang their heads low. Unlike last year, the Aggies know they will be playing in the NCAA Tournament where they will surely be a team to reckon with.
The silver lining coming out of this loss is that it’s hard to fathom another rough performance from Taylor (3-11 field goals, 4 turnovers), and the Aggies overall will surely shoot better from the floor than they did this afternoon (29.7%).
Losing in the SEC title game stings nonetheless, but it gives the Aggies even more bulletin board material to put the country on notice come time for the NCAA Tournament.
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