Against an old rival on Thursday, the Texas Longhorns may have saved their season—and in spectacular manner.
The Longhorns defeated No. 14 Texas A&M 94-89 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, and Tre Johnson scored the game-winning 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining in the second overtime.
Mike DeCourcy, the bracket forecaster for FOX Sports, predicted that the Longhorns will be among the first four teams eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, making them a bubble team going into this intrastate matchup.
Texas finished 13th in a difficult conference with a meager regular season record of 17-14 (6-12 in the SEC).
However, the Longhorns have a good chance of making the field of 68 after winning two straight games in the SEC Tournament, including a 79-72 victory against Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
San Diego State, Wake Forest, Xavier, and Indiana were among the other bubble teams that suffered losses on Thursday.
Texas, at 19-14, will play Tennessee, the fourth seed and eighth-ranked team, on Friday.
Johnson scored 20 points in the end. For Texas, Jordan Pope had 13, Kadin Shedrick contributed 14, and Tramon Mark had 15.
Just before the buzzer, Mark’s short jumper went off the rim, forcing overtime and an exciting ending.
With 29 points and a 17-for-18 shooting percentage from the free-throw line, Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies (22-10) and took the lead in SEC career tournament scoring. Before fouling out, Manny Obaseki had 17 points.
Henry Coleman III finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Andersson Garcia contributed 13.
Texas: Trying to stay on the bubble of the tournament and perhaps needing victories to keep coach Rodney Terry in his job, the Longhorns had lost four of their previous five games going into Nashville.
Now that they have won two of their previous three games, this should assist.
Texas A&M: The Aggies have advanced to the 2022 and 2023 championships and are an SEC-best 7-3 in their last three SEC tournaments.
Last year, they were defeated in the semifinals.
Five Aggies, including Hayden Hefner in his fifth season, have participated in nine or more SEC Tournament games.
Texas had to play for five more minutes after Shedrick’s dunk with 4.6 seconds remaining in the first OT.
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