Your Texas Aggies are back in the NCAA Tournament!
The Aggies face off in Austin against the Texas Longhorns in the first round on Friday at 5PM. The game will broadcast live on the Longhorn Network. Radio coverage will be available on the 12thMan app and website. But your best bet is just to be there. Tickets available HERE.
The Longhorns just finished their season with their best regular season record in school history. They were rewarded with a 7 seed and a home match with rival Aggies who have been experiencing historical lows in their program.
Texas carries a 14-2-4 record into the NCAA Tournament. Those two loses nearly came as bookends for their season (so far). The first loss was in their 2nd match of the season, a 0-2 loss to #2 North Carolina in Austin. The second loss came in their last match, a 0-1 loss to West Virginia in the 2nd round of the Big 12 tournament.
Now, here's the rub aside from the match against UNC and a 1-1 tie with #17 TCU, Texas has faced no other ranked opponents. Their record is enviable, but the weak schedule explains why Texas is satisfied with a #7 seed when their record is superior to the mid-2000 Longhorn teams that earned top seeds. Texas is #26 in the RPI and #66 in strength of schedule.
That aside, Texas is obviously a dangerous team and should be expected to win this home match.
Let's compare common opponents:
TCU
Aggies lost at home: 1-2 (Aggies were outshot 11-15)
Longhorns tied away: 1-1 (Texas outshot TCU 17-10)
Florida
Aggies won away: 4-1 (Aggies outshot Florida 15-9)
Longhorns won home 3-2 (Longhorns outshot Florida 19-13)
And that's it… So what does this mean? As much as the head-to-head record means: Nothing.
(The Ags are 21-5-2 against Texas for what it's worth.)
Focusing specifically on Texas now. The Longhorns have outscored their opponents 51-16 and have 8 shutouts on the season. They've only been shutout twice (in the only two losses discussed about). Those are some pretty dominant stats.
That dominant scoring has been led by sophomore Trinity Byars, who leads the team with 16 goals and has 9 assists this season as well. She leads the team in shots with 60 and has a very respectable SOG% of .533. Byars has registered at least 1 point in 16 of the 20 games the Longhorns have played this season. Byars is the Big 12's offensive player of the year this season and was a National Freshman first teamer last year. This performance is not surprising as the speedster was ranked as the #1 2021 recruit in the nation.
Midfielder and Southlake Carroll alum, Lexi Missimo has a team high 14 assists for the Longhorns as well as 6 goals. While still classified a sophomore, Lexi came in during that weird COVID year. And like her teammate above, Lexi came in as a top recruit, #1 nationally in 2020 according to Top Drawer's rankings. She also garnered the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award and joined Trinity Byars on the National Freshman first team. Goal.com has her listed as #4 in the "World's Top Wonderkids in Women's Football."
EmJ Cox is the defender to highlight as the 2022 Big 12 Defender of the year. She has played the full 1800 minutes for Texas this season and, as center back, has been a central piece in the stingy Longhorn defense. She also has 7 goals and 3 assists.
I guess we'll look at the keeper too. Super senior, Savannah Madden has played all but 15 minutes in net for Texas this season. Madden has allowed 16 goals, while totaling 69 saves and a .8 goal against average. It's worth repeating that this team has 8 shutouts on the season.
Texas has some REALLY good players and have tallied some very impressive stats this season. They are also playing at home, where they are 9-1-1 on the season. However, the Aggies have played more teams of this caliber and have, for the most part, looked like a different team at this juncture in the season. The SEC has proven to be a much hardier conference than the Big 12 that Texas plays in.
All of the praise I've written for Texas is not my excuse for an Aggie loss. It's a charge for Texas A&M to show that they are the better team. This is the type of game that you dream of the chance to knock off your rival in the NCAA Tournament. Winning this one would be big.
The Aggies face off in Austin against the Texas Longhorns in the first round on Friday at 5PM. The game will broadcast live on the Longhorn Network. Radio coverage will be available on the 12thMan app and website. But your best bet is just to be there. Tickets available HERE.
The Longhorns just finished their season with their best regular season record in school history. They were rewarded with a 7 seed and a home match with rival Aggies who have been experiencing historical lows in their program.
Texas carries a 14-2-4 record into the NCAA Tournament. Those two loses nearly came as bookends for their season (so far). The first loss was in their 2nd match of the season, a 0-2 loss to #2 North Carolina in Austin. The second loss came in their last match, a 0-1 loss to West Virginia in the 2nd round of the Big 12 tournament.
Now, here's the rub aside from the match against UNC and a 1-1 tie with #17 TCU, Texas has faced no other ranked opponents. Their record is enviable, but the weak schedule explains why Texas is satisfied with a #7 seed when their record is superior to the mid-2000 Longhorn teams that earned top seeds. Texas is #26 in the RPI and #66 in strength of schedule.
That aside, Texas is obviously a dangerous team and should be expected to win this home match.
Let's compare common opponents:
TCU
Aggies lost at home: 1-2 (Aggies were outshot 11-15)
Longhorns tied away: 1-1 (Texas outshot TCU 17-10)
Florida
Aggies won away: 4-1 (Aggies outshot Florida 15-9)
Longhorns won home 3-2 (Longhorns outshot Florida 19-13)
And that's it… So what does this mean? As much as the head-to-head record means: Nothing.
(The Ags are 21-5-2 against Texas for what it's worth.)
Focusing specifically on Texas now. The Longhorns have outscored their opponents 51-16 and have 8 shutouts on the season. They've only been shutout twice (in the only two losses discussed about). Those are some pretty dominant stats.
That dominant scoring has been led by sophomore Trinity Byars, who leads the team with 16 goals and has 9 assists this season as well. She leads the team in shots with 60 and has a very respectable SOG% of .533. Byars has registered at least 1 point in 16 of the 20 games the Longhorns have played this season. Byars is the Big 12's offensive player of the year this season and was a National Freshman first teamer last year. This performance is not surprising as the speedster was ranked as the #1 2021 recruit in the nation.
Midfielder and Southlake Carroll alum, Lexi Missimo has a team high 14 assists for the Longhorns as well as 6 goals. While still classified a sophomore, Lexi came in during that weird COVID year. And like her teammate above, Lexi came in as a top recruit, #1 nationally in 2020 according to Top Drawer's rankings. She also garnered the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award and joined Trinity Byars on the National Freshman first team. Goal.com has her listed as #4 in the "World's Top Wonderkids in Women's Football."
EmJ Cox is the defender to highlight as the 2022 Big 12 Defender of the year. She has played the full 1800 minutes for Texas this season and, as center back, has been a central piece in the stingy Longhorn defense. She also has 7 goals and 3 assists.
I guess we'll look at the keeper too. Super senior, Savannah Madden has played all but 15 minutes in net for Texas this season. Madden has allowed 16 goals, while totaling 69 saves and a .8 goal against average. It's worth repeating that this team has 8 shutouts on the season.
Texas has some REALLY good players and have tallied some very impressive stats this season. They are also playing at home, where they are 9-1-1 on the season. However, the Aggies have played more teams of this caliber and have, for the most part, looked like a different team at this juncture in the season. The SEC has proven to be a much hardier conference than the Big 12 that Texas plays in.
All of the praise I've written for Texas is not my excuse for an Aggie loss. It's a charge for Texas A&M to show that they are the better team. This is the type of game that you dream of the chance to knock off your rival in the NCAA Tournament. Winning this one would be big.