A&M anxiously awaits Selection Sunday results after falling to Florida

Press conference video courtesy of the Southeastern Conference.

NASHVILLE — At 5 o’clock Sunday evening everyone associated with Texas A&M basketball should be relaxed.

The Aggies should be sitting at ease for a Selection Sunday watch party. Their only care should be where they will travel for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Two wins in the Southeastern Conference Tournament should make the Aggies comfortable. So should seven Quadrant 1 wins.

The key word here is “should.”

Despite the positive bullet points on their resume, the Aggies may be ill at ease waiting for their name to be called.

Torrid Florida shooting from the 3-point arc and an A&M cold spell led to a 95-90 loss in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon.

That loss should not hurt A&M’s case. Hell, Florida has a No. 28 NET ranking. And the Aggies have an earlier victory over the Gators.

But two wins in the SEC Tournament may not impress the selection committee. Three SEC Tournament wins still left the Aggies out of March Madness two years ago. Three SEC Tournament wins last year was only good enough to warrant a No. 7-NCAA seed.

Therefore, coach Buzz Williams didn’t appear overly confident.

“Whatever is going to happen tomorrow just to be able to be in this position,” Williams said. “I think our team has changed over the last three weeks.”

No doubt. Three weeks ago the Aggies were mired in a five-game losing streak. They burst out of that skid with a five-game winning streak.

They appeared well on the way to making it six straight wins. The Aggies came out hot against Florida and built an 18-point lead with just 5:20 left in the first half.

That lead dwindled to eight, 50-42, by halftime, but the Aggies still seemed in control. They had shot 50 percent from the field in the first half. They hit six 3-point goals. They had limited Florida to just 42.3 percent shooting.

Yet, one stat was cause for angst. Florida had hit six of 11 times from 3-point range. Surely the Gators couldn’t keep hitting treys at that volume.

Well, yes they could.

Florida routinely torched A&M from the perimeter in the second half. Guard Zyon Pullin opened the half with a 3-pointer which set the tone for the rest of the game.

Denzel Aberdeen, a little-used sophomore guard, gave the Gators a 59-58 lead on a trey with 13:51 left.

Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean

Recording 18 points and 10 rebounds, Solomon Washington notched his second double-double of his career vs. Florida.

A 3 by Will Richard gave Florida a 75-72 lead. Aberdeen made it 80-72 with a 3 from the corner with 6:09 to play.

Guard Walter Clayton Jr. hit from the corner and was fouled with 3:21 left. He converted the four-point play for an 85-75 advantage.

Overall, the Gators hit 8-of-14 attempts from 3-point range for 53.3 percent in the second half.

A&M guard Hayden Hefner said Florida’s success at the 3-point line started with its ability to get inside. The Gators had 26 points in the paint.

“I think we could have limited them getting it into the paint a lot more,” Hefner said. “Once they started getting into those drives, spreading out … they were already knocking down 3’s.”

Williams agreed.

“You have to make a decision: Are you going to let them score at the rim or are you going to try to be in position to contest the 3?,” Williams said. “They shot 26 percent of their shots at the rim.

“Our defense is wired not to give up points at the rim. Not to allow the ball to get to the paint. We were slow in the contest.”

Complicating matters, A&M offense was unable to keep up with the Gators' surge.

Admittedly, that sounds odd considering the Aggies scored 90 points. But A&M shot just 34.4 percent in the second half. They were only 25 percent (2-of-8) from 3-point range. In one stretch the Aggies went more than four minutes without a field goal.

The Aggies made a late charge in the final three minutes. But by then it was an uphill battle.

Denny Simmons/The Tennessean

The Aggies would head to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year if included in the field of 68 on Sunday.

“Credit to A&M,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “They shot the ball really well. They hit six 3s in the first half. They've been playing at an elite level the last five games, before this one. And a big part of that is their perimeter shooting. When they make 3s, they're really, really hard to beat.”

To Golden’s point, A&M had shot 36 percent from behind the arc in its five-game winning streak.

But Taylor, who finished with 30 points, had A&M’s only two triples in the second half.

His second highlighted a last-gasp rally that pulled within 88-84 on a Taylor 3-pointer with 1:54 left.

The Aggies had a chance to get within one in the last minute, but Taylor’s final 3-point attempt was off. That was A&M’s last hope.


Now, the Aggies hope they’ve done enough to get into the NCAA Tournament.

“We lost every game for two-and-a-half weeks in a row,” Williams said. "Now we’ve won every game for the last two-and-a-half weeks in a row. (I’m) Thankful for the last five wins. This is our first loss in March. But I also think the response of our guys from the five losses in a row … thankful. Very grateful.”

The selection committee should be impressed. It should put more emphasis on A&M wins over Iowa State, Tennessee and Kentucky (twice) than some low points in a long season.

A&M should be in the tournament. But the Aggies probably won’t relax until they are.