Call it the Nashville Marathon.
As the debate surrounding resting legs during conference tournaments rages across college basketball, no one was holding back in 5-seed Texas A&M men’s basketball’s 94-89 double overtime loss to 13-seed Texas in its SEC Tournament opener.
“Credit to Texas, their players, their coaches, they did a lot of great things,” coach Buzz Williams said. “I think in the month of March, regardless of seed, regardless of the opponent, not just in the SEC Tournament but wherever we are next week, I think that’s why it’s called madness.”
After being down by as much as nine points in the second half, A&M rallied to force overtime thanks to clutch shots from graduate guard C.J. Wilcher and graduate forward Henry Coleman III that had the traveling 12th Man on their feet and roaring.
Then, after a five-point stretch from senior G Manny Obaseki gave the Aggies the buffer they needed, the marathon continued into a second overtime.
“We also know our recipe,” Williams said. “And so our knowledge is important, but our execution of that knowledge, when you get to post-spring break, you have to bake the cake a little better.”
Bread and butter
An uncharacteristically lackluster performance on the boards from A&M in the first half allowed Texas to take a 33-27 lead into the halftime break. The Longhorns out-rebounded the Aggies 22-20 in the period and held a 4-3 advantage on the offensive glass — impressive numbers, given the Maroon and White lead the nation in offensive rebounding percentage.
Junior G Jordan Pope led the way on the glass for Texas with eight rebounds.
“Our bigs were going to have their hands full on every shot that went up,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “The one guy that had a chance to come down and rebound the basketball or get the 50-50 ball of sorts was our point guard, and he had eight of them today. That’s why Jordan Pope was such an instrumental part in helping us with the rebounding battle.”
That improved for A&M over the rest of the game, as the Aggies ended up with a 20-9 advantage on the offensive glass. Coleman led the way for the Aggies with 13 rebounds, good for a double-double.
“I thought we were physical, but, you know, you play a team trying to be more physical than you,” Coleman said. “I thought we handled it right in the second half.”
Old favorites — and new places
As has become a familiar pattern over his career in Aggieland, graduate G Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies in scoring with 29 points — 17 of them from the free-throw line. This time, it was good enough to make him the SEC Tournament’s all-time leading scorer.
Taylor was a bright spot from the charity stripe, as his teammates shot 10-22 from the line.
“You know you’re going against the best they’ve had,” Terry said. “[Taylor’s] a killer. He’s tough. And again, we just had to find a way …. We had to try to not let him win the game, and he almost did.”
The “March Manny” phenomenon made its return to the SEC Tournament this year in Nashville. In the first four minutes of the game, Obaseki recorded five points, a made 3-pointer, a steal and a block. The Allen native finished with 17 points before fouling out in the first overtime.
Manny from the arc!!
Mo has scored all 5 points for the Aggies in OT#GigEm pic.twitter.com/MFkca8rzlc
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 13, 2025
Graduate F Andersson Garcia has become a stellar contributor to Williams’ teams at A&M, primarily as a big-man rebound threat.
In Nashville, Garcia surprised no one with his 10 rebounds — but he did raise some eyebrows and fans’ voices with his perfect 4-4 mark on 3-pointers. The Dominican’s lights-out shooting had a vocal contingent of the 12th Man on their feet every time Garcia pump-faked from behind the arc.
But Garcia, along with junior forward Solomon Washington and Obaseki, all fouled out before the final buzzer sounded.
A&M raised and Texas matched
Much talk has been made of the Fightin’ Farmers’ physicality and intensity this season, as they boast the 8th-highest defensive efficiency mark and lead the nation in offensive rebounding.
But at the SEC Tournament, it was Texas who was able to match A&M’s effort.
“Man, we kept battling,” Terry said. “We hung tough. We made big plays. We made big shots when we answered down the stretch.”
And as the Longhorns fight for their NCAA Tournament spot while on the bubble, the Aggies head home for a weekend of rest before finding out their March Madness opponent on Selection Sunday
“Everybody on this team, from the coaches to the players, have been through something,” Coleman said. “We’ve gone through trials and tribulations ourselves, so it’s nothing we haven’t experienced … I don’t think anybody in that locker room has any doubt or fear.”
