For the glory, and the money.
For the first time ever, Texas A&M men’s basketball will have the opportunity to compete in the Players Era tournament, a unique new NIL — name, image and likeness — driven competition in which teams earn funds for their programs. Each program earns a minimum one million in guaranteed NIL money, with the chance to win more as the tournament progresses.
A&M’s first obstacle in profiteering, the Oregon Ducks, stopped the Aggies as they looked to continue their unbeaten season streak in the tournament.
The 5-0 streak remained untouched after the Ducks took down the Maroon and White following a second half 10-point comeback at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas, NV. on Tuesday, Nov. 26th.
The Aggies were out-rebounding early, leading to an early 8-0 lead off a pair of threes from senior guard Zhuric Phelps and senior forward Anderssen Garcia.
After a slow start shooting in the paint, senior G Manny Obaseki revived the offense with two clutch plays, a nailed three-pointer and a pull-up jumper. Combined with another three and good defense by graduate transfer from Nebraska, G CJ Wilcher, A&M leads 23-17.
Despite the commanding charge from the Fightin’ Farmers, fouls leading to free throws and turnovers helped turn the deficit more in favor of the Ducks. Heading into the half, A&M up only 32-29, Phelps led the team with 10 points off two made threes. Uncharacteristically, graduate G Wade Taylor was one-for-six on three pointers and only 28.6% from the field.
Coming out of the break, Oregon heated up from beyond the arc, nailing two threes in a row and both came off dimes by redshirt senior Jadrian Tracey.
In response, Phelps hit his third three-pointer of the game before junior center and transfer from Minnesota, Pharrell Payne, drove through the Ducks defense for a successful and-one, with the made free throw afterwards.
Taylor started to heat up with 13 minutes left in the game after two made threes, bringing his total up to 12 points now while extending the lead for the Aggies, 47-40.
A&M started feeling the three ball, with senior F Jace Carter sinking a three off the bench after Phelps hit another, putting his total up to 20 points.
Defense showed up big in the paint against Oregon’s 7-foot menace, senior center Nate Bittle, who averaged 17 points on the season but was held to just six points and six rebounds.
Fast break points down low from Tracey and sophomore G Jackson Shelstad, helped bring the game within one point with eight minutes left after the Ducks took advantage of the sloppy play on the opposing offensive side.
The 14-0 point run for Oregon continued with a demanding dunk by sophomore F Kwame Evans Jr. before finally stopped by two made free throws by Taylor.
Even though the Maroon and White hadn’t made a FG in four minutes, the squad managed to even the score at 64 with a little more than five minutes left, after capitalizing on opportunities at the free throw line.
In the final minutes, both teams were going back and forth with Wilcher headlining an Aggie lead at 69-68, with a successful three.
After costly turnovers and fouls, Oregon earned the lead after they took advantage of the misfortunes by A&M, taking the game by 10-points, 80-70.
Next, A&M resumes the next round of the Players Era against Creighton on Wednesday, who lost the first round of its tournament stint against San Diego State University, 71-53.
