Texas A&M University
BASKETBALL After the Texas A&M men’s basketball 74-62 National Invitation Tournament win over Alcorn State, head coach Buzz Williams solemnly eulogized his program’s chance at its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2018. The “disgust” he and his players felt in that moment could have been the death knell on a season that rose and fell in the most drastic of fashions. However, the 2021-22 Aggies (27-13) reached the NIT Finals in New York’s Madison Square Garden, a win shy of the single-season school record and 19-victories better than the year prior. “This is my 28th year in college coaching and I’ve never experienced anything like what has transpired within our team over the last six weeks,” Williams said after the NIT final. “The belief, the work, the trust, the love… has scared my heart in a way that I’ll never, ever forget.” Williams dipped heavily into the transfer portal prior to the season, bringing in five new faces: Tyree Radford, Henry Coleman, Aaron Cash, Ethan Henderson and Marcus Williams. The Aggies also welcomed freshmen Wade Taylor IV and Manny Obaseki to near instant impact to the team. With a fresh look, the Aggies started the season as world beaters, winning 15 of their first 17 with losses to Wisconsin and TCU. Both teams finished the year within Ken Pomeroy’s top 37. The streak included A&M’s first four Southeastern Conference matchups including Georgia, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Missouri. However, when No. 12 Kentucky arrived in Reed Arena, so did the favorable string of games in the conference slate. The Aggies came close to upending the Wildcats in a 64-58 loss, but what followed was an eight-game losing streak with a 74-63 loss to Quadrant III
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By Travis L. Brown • travis.brown@theeagle.com
South Carolina and a 70-66 loss to Quadrant IV Missouri. Williams had never suffered eight consecutive losses in his coaching career. “I don’t know that there’s a specific answer on what is the right way to handle an eight-game losing streak,” Williams said after the SEC tournament. “If there is, I have’t read the book on it. What I tried to do was just tell our guys the truth.” Armed with meticulously researched data on what worked well for the Aggies through their initial
double-digit scoring performances, including a season-high tying 31 against Georgia. He would finish the season with seven games scoring 20 or more points. “We’ve been through a lot this year,” Jackson said after the conclusion of the season. “A lot of ups. A lot of downs. But I think we’ve all learned just how to persevere and remain resilient through everything that has went on. We all have learned something from this year.” The improbable almost became the impossible when A&M edged
game against No. 9 Tennessee. The conference tournament run added two more Quadrant I wins, of which the Aggies nabbed four by Selection Sunday. A 65-50 loss to Tennessee in the SEC championship gave the Aggies just enough hope to be crushed when A&M was listed as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA tournament field. Williams nor any Aggie players spoke until after the first game of the NIT, in which the Aggies were one of four No. 1 seeds. Williams read
win streak and what went wrong over their eight-game skid, Williams pulled a U-turn within the program that led to winning five of the last six regular season games, including a 87-71 win over Quadrant I Alabama. Through that stretch, graduate guard Quenton Jackson put together a heroic effort, tallying six
out Florida in the SEC tournament opener 83-80 in overtime. Sophomore guard Hassan Diarra thew up an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired to down the Gators and continue A&M’s postseason quest. A&M knocked off No. 4 Auburn 67-62 and then No. 15 Arkansas, 82-64, to advance to the SEC title
from a prewritten statement and handed out packets of research he had prepared, comparing the Aggies to the NCAA tournament field. “Despite repeated pleas, I have only been given generalities by those above me, not data-specific evidence, on why we weren’t invited,” Williams said. “Without logical reasoning
AGGIELAND PRIMER
behind the decision, while knowing I still must explain this to our guys and their families, it has caused me to lose all respect and faith in the system and those that are in it. What transpired is wrong.” Though the Aggies spent little time preparing for Alcorn State, Jackson was quick to point out that the job “was not done” yet. A&M issued a commanding 75-60 performance against Oregon in Reed Arena, followed by a 67-52 win over Wake Forest to punch a ticket to New York City. Despite the lights and excitement that surrounded the program in the Big Apple, A&M rolled based Washington State 72-56 in the NIT semifinals to face Xavier in the championship game. The Aggies held a 40-32 lead at the half, but saw the Musketeers shoot 53.57% from the field and 71.43% form 3-point range in the second half to seal a season that ended with hardware. The run, however, propelled the Aggies into the spotlight for the 2022-23 season. Most publications have the Aggies projected on the cusp of the Top 25 in preseason pools, thanks to returning five of its top 10 scorers in Coleman, Radford, Taylor, Gordon and Obaseki. Williams returned to the portal again to add Mississippi State forward Andersson Garcia, Arkansas guard KK Robinson and Michigan State forward Julius Marble, the latter of which averaged 14.4 points and 3.3 rebounds for the Spartans last season. After three years of building in Aggieland, all signs are pointing up for the Aggies come the fall thanks to a springboard season. “I’m thankful,” Williams said after the season. “Over the last six weeks, I think it’s changed our program forever.”
T H E B R YA N - C O L L E G E S TAT I O N E A G L E
