No. 18 Aggies Face Vanderbilt in SEC Tournament Semifinals

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 2-seeded Aggies face sixth-seeded Vanderbilt on Saturday in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena 25 minutes after the conclusion of the Alabama-Missouri game that starts at 12 noon.

The road to the SEC semis saw the Aggies overcoming a 13-point halftime deficit to beat Arkansas, 67-61, while Vandy upset the third-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, 80-73, in Friday’s late game.
Friday’s 13-point rally over ARK was the second-largest comeback of 2022-23 for the Aggies, behind only a 15-point rebound against NW State on 12/27.
Last night’s win marked the first time Texas A&M has ever overcome a first-half deficit to win at the SEC Tournament.
For the first time ever, the Aggies have reached the SEC semis in consecutive years.
In the lone regular season meeting between the Aggies and ‘Dores, the Maroon & White tallied a hard-fought 72-66 win at Reed Arena on 1/28.
Vanderbilt leads the all-time series with the Aggies, 10-7, including a 72-67 win in 2022 in the two teams’ last meeting in Nashville.

TRENDS & STREAKS:

Texas A&M leads the nation in FTM and FTA with an average of 19.3-25.3, and its FT% of .762 leads the SEC. The Aggies average 1.5 more FTM/G than any other team in Div. I college basketball.
Texas A&M is 1 of 3 teams nationally with more than 800 FTA in 2022-23, joining SE Missouri St. and UTRGV. The next closest SEC team is Alabama with 744.
Dating back to late February of 2022, Texas A&M is a SEC-best 23-4 in its last 27 games against SEC opponents (includes SEC tournament).
The Aggies allowed a SEC-low avg. of 26.7 first-half points in conference play and limited opponents to 30 or fewer in 13-of-18 SEC games.
Wade Taylor IV and SEC POY Brandon Miller were the SEC’s only players to score 500+ points for the season and 300+ points in SEC play. Taylor IV joins 2012-13 All-SEC first-teamer Elston Turner as lone Aggies to do it since joining the SEC.
Tyrece Radford had 10+ points in 14-of-18 SEC games.
Taylor and Radford were the SEC’s highest scoring guard tandem in league play at 30.9 points/G. Against AP Top 25 opponents, the pair combined for a 38.5 scoring average.
Texas A&M was the only SEC team with two players hitting better than 50.0% from the field (min. 200 FGA): Henry Coleman III (.535) and Julius Marble (.533).
The Aggies are 11-1 when super sub Andersson Garcia logs 5 or more rebounds and 14-2 when he scores 3 or more points.
The resilient Aggies have overcome deficits of eight points or more in seven of their last 13 games, including last night’s 13-pionts rally over Arkansas and a trio of 12-point comebacks vs. Auburn (2/7), Arkansas (2/15) and Ole Miss (2/29).
The biggest rally of 2022-23 came against Northwestern State on 12/27 when the Aggies overcame a 15-point deficit (at the 9:04 mark in 1st half) for a 64-52 win over the Demons.

FOLLOW THE ACTION:

The game will be televised by ESPN with Karl Ravech (play-by-play), Jimmy Dykes (analyst) and Marty Smith (reporter) on the call.
The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network or locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton calling the action.