Aggies earn second top-10 upset of season
COLLEGE STATION — Tyrece Radford had 27 points and Wade Taylor IV added 25 as Texas A&M never trailed in an 85-69 win over No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday night.
The victory was the third straight and fifth in the last six games for the Aggies (15-8, 6-4 Southeastern Conference). It’s A&M’S second win this season over a top-10 team after the Aggies outlasted then-no. 6 Kentucky in a 97-92 overtime victory on Jan. 13.
“We always talk about throwing the first punch, and we were able to do that in both halves tonight,” Taylor said.
The Aggies were up by 20 or more for much of the second half after a big opening half. But the Volunteers’ Dalton Knecht, who had been on the bench for several minutes after collecting his fourth foul, came in and made 3pointers on consecutive possessions to cut the lead to 12 points with less than four minutes to go.
A layup by Taylor started a 6-2 run, which was capped by an alley-oop dunk by Solomon Washington, to push it to 81-65 with just over two minutes remaining and end the rally attempt.
“We got ourselves in a hole. … We just never seemed like we were in sync and playing the way we wanted to play,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.
It’s the second poor offensive showing in four outings for Tennessee (17-6, 7-3), which managed just 59 points in a loss to No. 15 South Carolina on Jan. 30.
Knecht had 22 points to lead the Volunteers, his ninth straight game with at least 16 points. He made just six of his 15 shots, but all of his makes were 3pointer. “They were willful drivers, and they did a good job of finishing at the rim,” Barnes said. “We didn’t execute the way we needed to.”
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams raved about the work of Andersson Garcia, who is from the Dominican Republic. Garcia, the SEC’S rebounding leader, had 17 boards Saturday after pulling down 16 in the last game.
“He’s the D.R. Dennis Rodman,” Williams said. “I’ve said it before. That’s what I wrote for him today in my pregame note.”
Texas A&M led by 14 at halftime and scored the first six points of the second half to stretch its advantage to 48-28. Taylor wowed the rowdy crowd of 12,995 in that span when he crashed to the ground after being fouled as he made a layup.
The takeaway
Tennessee: The Volunteers will need to solve the scoring woes that plagued them Saturday if they hope to compete with South Carolina and 16thranked Alabama for the
SEC title.
Texas A&M: The Aggies have played their most consistent basketball of the season in the last six games, with their only loss in that span coming in a loss to Mississippi on Jan. 27. But they’ll have to continue to improve if they hope to build on this success as three of their next five games are against ranked opponents.
Next up
Tennessee: Visits Arkansas on Wednesday night.
Texas A&M: Visits Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.