Thursday, March 13
Nashville, Tenn.
2:30 PM
Texas A&M
vs
Texas
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Rachel Mahan/Texas A&M Athletics
Fifth-Seeded Aggies Begin SEC Tournament Journey vs. Longhorns
Mar 11, 2025 | Men's Basketball
NASHVILLE – The No. 14 Texas A&M men's basketball team (22-9 overall, 11-7 vs. SEC) faces the Texas Longhorns on Thursday in the second round of the 2025 SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
AGGIES AT SEC TOURNAMENT (BUZZ WILLIAMS ERA, 2020-PRESENT)
*Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn. | Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla.
NEED-TO-KNOWS
BATTLE-TESTED: The Aggies enter the 2025 SEC Tournament having compiled a SEC-best 7-3 record over the past three editions with two finals appearances (2022, 2023) and a spot in the 2024 semifinals. No other team has played more than seven SECT games since 2022 (both Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are 4-3 since 2022).
Texas A&M has five players who have played nine or more SEC Tournament games on its roster, led by fifth-year player Hayden Hefner with 11 appearances (7-4 record). On Thursday, he will move into tie with eight other players for most SECT games played in the history of the postseason classic.
Henry Coleman III, Manny Obaseki and Wade Taylor IV have played in 10 SECT games (7-3), while Andersson Garcia has nine SECT appearances (5-4 / 1-2 at Mississippi State in 2021 and 2022, 4-2 at Texas A&M from 2023 and 2024). Taylor needs 11 minutes of action to reach the 300 plateau at the Tournament.
FINISHING STRONG: The Aggies enter the SEC Tournament on a two-game winning streak. The Aggies, under Buzz Williams, have closed out the regular season with at least a two-game winning streak in five of his six seasons in Aggieland. Only the Covid-challenged 2021-22 team entered the SEC Tournament on a losing streak since Williams arrived in 2019-20.
WADE CHASES: Wade Taylor IV has eight SEC Tournament career records within range, most notably the career scoring record of 187 points set by Tennessee's Allan Houston in nine games from 1990-93 (Full list on page 2). A two-time All-Tournament selection, Taylor has 173 points in 10 games. He's scored at least 13 points in his last six games in Nashville.
TOP GUARD COMBOS: Texas A&M is one of three SEC schools with a pair of guards both averaging 14+ points for the full season. Wade Taylor IV (15.2) and Zhuric Phelps (14.3) join Florida's combo of Walter Clayton Jr. (17.2) and Alijah Martin (14.5) and Missouri's Mark Mitchell (14.3) and Caleb Grill (14.2).
ONE OF A KIND: Texas A&M is D1's only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (tNo. 6, 40.8/G), offensive rebounds (No. 1, 16.1/G) and rebound margin (No. 5, 9.1/G).
SUM OF PARTS: Among the 12 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M , Kennesaw State and Tennessee State are only schools without a single player averaging at least 7.0+ rebounds/G.
SHOOT MORE, ALLOW LESS: The Aggies average 5.8 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools.
A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.4 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by nearly 2.0 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (55.1).
WITHIN WADE'S REACH
A two-time SEC All-Tournament selection, Wade Taylor IV is within range of multiple career Tournament records.
Statistic: Taylor total (Current record holder)
Points: 173 (187, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FG: 53 (71, Chuck Person, Auburn, 1983-86)
FGA: 138 (147, Tony Delk, Kentucky, 1993-96)
3-Pointers: 23 (33, Pat Bradley, Arkansas, 1996-99)
3-FGA: 63 (76, Pat Bradley, Arkansas, 1996-99)
FT: 44 (53, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FTA: 47 (61, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FT% (min. 25 FT made): .936, 44-47 (.933, 42-45, Kevin Anglin, Vanderbilt, 1990-93)
MILESTONES TO WATCH
TREND BULLETS
TV/RADIO
- The 5-seed Aggies face the 13-seed Longhorns, who beat Vanderbilt, 79-72, on Wednesday, at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Thursday (game starts 25 minutes after conclusion of prior game).
- The Aggies have won at least two games in each of the last three SEC Tournaments.
- Texas A&M is 7-4 in the SEC Tournament under Buzz Williams (since 2019-20).
- Since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012-13, they are 11-11 at the SEC Tournment
- While the Aggies have reached the conference tournament championship game twice in the last three years, the program's most recent conference tournament championship came at the 1987 Southwest Conference Classic at Reunion Arena in Dallas.
AGGIES AT SEC TOURNAMENT (BUZZ WILLIAMS ERA, 2020-PRESENT)
| Date | Opponent (RK) | Result | TAMU | Opp |
| 03/10/2021 | *Vandy | L | 68 | 79 |
| 03/10/2022 | +Fla | W (OT) | 83 | 80 |
| 03/11/2022 | +Auburn(4) | W | 67 | 62 |
| 03/12/2022 | +Ark(15) | W | 82 | 64 |
| 03/13/2022 | +Tenn(9) | L | 50 | 65 |
| 03/10/2023 | *Ark | W | 67 | 61 |
| 03/11/2023 | *Vandy | W | 87 | 75 |
| 03/12/2023 | *Ala(4) | L | 63 | 82 |
| 03/14/2024 | *Miss | W | 80 | 71 |
| 03/15/2024 | *Kty(9) | W | 97 | 87 |
NEED-TO-KNOWS
BATTLE-TESTED: The Aggies enter the 2025 SEC Tournament having compiled a SEC-best 7-3 record over the past three editions with two finals appearances (2022, 2023) and a spot in the 2024 semifinals. No other team has played more than seven SECT games since 2022 (both Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are 4-3 since 2022).
Texas A&M has five players who have played nine or more SEC Tournament games on its roster, led by fifth-year player Hayden Hefner with 11 appearances (7-4 record). On Thursday, he will move into tie with eight other players for most SECT games played in the history of the postseason classic.
Henry Coleman III, Manny Obaseki and Wade Taylor IV have played in 10 SECT games (7-3), while Andersson Garcia has nine SECT appearances (5-4 / 1-2 at Mississippi State in 2021 and 2022, 4-2 at Texas A&M from 2023 and 2024). Taylor needs 11 minutes of action to reach the 300 plateau at the Tournament.
FINISHING STRONG: The Aggies enter the SEC Tournament on a two-game winning streak. The Aggies, under Buzz Williams, have closed out the regular season with at least a two-game winning streak in five of his six seasons in Aggieland. Only the Covid-challenged 2021-22 team entered the SEC Tournament on a losing streak since Williams arrived in 2019-20.
WADE CHASES: Wade Taylor IV has eight SEC Tournament career records within range, most notably the career scoring record of 187 points set by Tennessee's Allan Houston in nine games from 1990-93 (Full list on page 2). A two-time All-Tournament selection, Taylor has 173 points in 10 games. He's scored at least 13 points in his last six games in Nashville.
TOP GUARD COMBOS: Texas A&M is one of three SEC schools with a pair of guards both averaging 14+ points for the full season. Wade Taylor IV (15.2) and Zhuric Phelps (14.3) join Florida's combo of Walter Clayton Jr. (17.2) and Alijah Martin (14.5) and Missouri's Mark Mitchell (14.3) and Caleb Grill (14.2).
ONE OF A KIND: Texas A&M is D1's only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (tNo. 6, 40.8/G), offensive rebounds (No. 1, 16.1/G) and rebound margin (No. 5, 9.1/G).
SUM OF PARTS: Among the 12 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M , Kennesaw State and Tennessee State are only schools without a single player averaging at least 7.0+ rebounds/G.
SHOOT MORE, ALLOW LESS: The Aggies average 5.8 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools.
A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.4 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by nearly 2.0 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (55.1).
WITHIN WADE'S REACH
A two-time SEC All-Tournament selection, Wade Taylor IV is within range of multiple career Tournament records.
Statistic: Taylor total (Current record holder)
Points: 173 (187, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FG: 53 (71, Chuck Person, Auburn, 1983-86)
FGA: 138 (147, Tony Delk, Kentucky, 1993-96)
3-Pointers: 23 (33, Pat Bradley, Arkansas, 1996-99)
3-FGA: 63 (76, Pat Bradley, Arkansas, 1996-99)
FT: 44 (53, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FTA: 47 (61, Allan Houston, Tennessee, 1990-93)
FT% (min. 25 FT made): .936, 44-47 (.933, 42-45, Kevin Anglin, Vanderbilt, 1990-93)
MILESTONES TO WATCH
- Wade Taylor IV's next point will be the 2,000th of his career. He would become the 28th SEC player to reach 2,000.
- Henry Coleman's next assist will be No. 100 for his career at Duke and Texas A&M.
- Hayden Hefner's next 3-pointer will be his 100 for his career.
- Thursday's game will be the 141st game of Hefner's career, which is just one from matching Kourtney Roberson's record of 142 set from 2010-15.
TREND BULLETS
- In Aggie Hoops vernacular, three defensive stops in a row is termed a "turkey." When the Aggies have tallied at least five turkeys this season, they have posted an 20-3 record (losses at UCF, at Mississippi State and Tennessee).
- Texas A&M leads the NCAA with an average of 16.1 offensive rebounds/G for the full season and leads the SEC with 15.3 o-rebounds/G in league games.
- Minnesota transfer Pharrel Payne ranks No. 2 nationally in FTA/G with 4.6/G among all D1 players averaging fewer than 20:00 minutes/G.
- The Aggies rank No. 7 in KenPom.com's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 92.9 (No. 2 among SEC schools), which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
- Over his past six games, Nebraska transfer CJ Wilcher is connecting on 47.6% of his 3-point shots. The sharpshooter has hit at least one 3-pointer in 12 of his last 14 games, while raising his season 3FG% to 41.7%, which is easily the best on the team.
- Wade Taylor IV is averaging 16.6 points over his last five games with four 16+ efforts and two games with at least six assists.
- Taylor ranks fourth in the SEC in 3-point attempts/G at 7.5. His 2.5 treys/G rank No. 12 among SEC players. He has attempted four or more 3-pointers in 59 straight games.
- Taylor has reached 10+ points in 26 of 27 games, and 15 or more 18 times, in 2024-25. He has 102 career games with 10+ points, which is a school record (previous was 100 by Bernard King, 1999-2003).
- A&M pounds the offensive glass for a NCAA-best 16.1 offensive rebounds/G, which allows the Aggies to average 5.1 more FGA than their opponent for the full season. In SEC play, the M&W average 15.3 OR/G and shoot 5.8 more balls than their league opponents.
- Six of Texas A&M's game results have been decided by three points or less (3-3 record) and 14 games have been within one-possession after the under 4:00 media timeout (9-5).
- Texas A&M has earned 40+ rebounds in 18 games, while just allowing 40+ opponent rebounds just four times.
- In a bit of an oddity, the Aggies shoot better from beyond the arc away from Reed Arena (32.7% in 15 road/neutral) compared to 28.8% in 16 home games. Even weirder, the Aggies have made 33.9% from deep in 10 true road games.
- The Aggies are 17-4 when hitting least 65% of their FTA and 5-5 when connecting on less than 65%. Similarly, the Aggies are 17-6 when they earn 20 or more FTA.
TV/RADIO
- 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.
- The SEC Tournament will be broadcast by ESPN and SEC Network with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Jess Sims handling the Day sessions throughout the championship and Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Molly McGrath describing the Night sessions Wednesday through Friday.
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