Griffen leads second-half takeover as A&M ends Austin drought

Press conference video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.

Game #18: Texas A&M 74, Texas 70
Records: Texas A&M (14-4, 4-1), Texas (11-7, 2-3)
Box Score

AUSTIN — At halftime, the Aggies must have undergone an extreme makeover.

That would explain how they came out and executed an extreme takeover.

Texas A&M (14-4, 4-1) went on a second-half rampage Saturday night and stampeded to a 74-70 Southeastern Conference basketball victory over arch rival Texas (11-7, 2-3) at the Moody Center.

The Aggies shot 60 percent from the field (15 of 25) and 60 percent from the 3-point line (6 of 10). Texas’ 7-foot center Matas Vokietaitis was limited to three points in the second half after scoring 11 in the first half.

“Sometimes we come out of the half and the first minute is like a warm-up,” A&M coach Bucky McMillan said. “I said, ‘Hey, the start of the half is so important. We can’t have a four-minute warmup. It starts now. Get yourself ready to go.’”

Will Huffman, TexAgs

In his Lone Star Showdown debut, Bucky McMillan earned A&M’s third victory in Austin in over 40 years: Feb. 11 of 1987, Jan. 23 of 2002 and now Jan. 17 of 2026.

The Aggies were ready, willing and so able. Indeed, the game tape should be rated R — for Rylan, Rashaun and Ruben.

Rylan Griffen and Rashaun Agee both scored 17 points, and Rubén Dominguez had 10 points to lead the way. Agee also had 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.

All of Griffen’s points were in the second half. Ten came in the first four minutes via a four-point play and a pair of 3-point goals.

That splurge helped the Aggies quickly turn a 29-29 halftime tie into a 44-34 lead.

Texas coach Sean Miller lamented the fact that A&M’s bench outscored the Longhorns, 20-6. He also must have been upset A&M outscored Texas in the paint, 34-22.

But he was most frustrated by the opening four minutes of the second half.

“I’m telling you right now, in the first four minutes of the second half, we were not ready to play,” Miller said. “There was one team that was running fast, and there was one team that was not running nearly as fast as they could.

“There was one team that came out at halftime ready to play it all the way to the end from start to finish. And one team, for whatever reason, just couldn’t quite get up and get after it.”

Will Huffman, TexAgs

With his eighth double-double of the season, Rashaun Agee is now averaging 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

Several times, Texas tried to mount a comeback. Each time, they were denied.

Texas cut A&M’s lead to 48-42, but the Aggies responded. Dominguez hit a trio of free throws, Agee hit another and assisted Griffen on a backdoor layup to push A&M’s lead back to 54-44.

That layup — and several others — illustrated a masterful coaching performance by McMillan.

He frequently positioned Agee near the 3-point line to draw Vokietaitis out from the paint. The Aggies then often delivered on target passes into the space voided for layups.

“I thought Bucky and his coaching staff hit us with about eight points on flex cut, back screen layups,” Miller said. “Just nobody around. Like somebody fell down on our team. That’s on me. That’s on us.”

Texas again cut A&M’s lead to six, 56-50, on a 3-pointer from Jordan Pope with just under 10 minutes remaining.

The Aggies again responded and pushed their lead to 65-56 on a Griffen trey from the corner with 5:51 left.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

A Dallas product, Rylan Griffen was 6-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers vs. Texas.

Once again, Texas pulled within six, 68-62, when Pope converted a four-point play.

But Ali Dibba scored a layup, and Jacari Lane followed with a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 73-62 lead with just 3:02 remaining.

Lane’s trey turned out to be the Aggies’ final field goal. Texas again fought back and pulled within 73-70.

But Lane hit a free throw with 7.5 seconds left to clinch a special victory that ended 11-game losing skid in Austin which dated back to 2002.

Well, it was special to A&M fans, anyway.

“This game’s no different than any other SEC game,” McMillan said. “Texas doesn’t get three losses for that. We don’t get three wins.

“So the most important thing we can do is just keep being the tight team that we are. Value getting the right shot for the right people and playing hard for the people next to you.

“Now, I will say this: I totally understand rivalry games. I totally understand fan bases. I love our fan base, and I want all the Aggies back in College Station — the best city in the state — to be celebrating really hard tonight.”

They will, Bucky. They will.