By SAM LANCE
Texas was in dire need of a win against Texas A&M to bolster its chances of securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns rose to the occasion, securing a thrilling 94-89 win over the Aggies in double-overtime.
This game wasn’t short of late-game heroics. In the first overtime, a defensive lapse by Texas A&M led to a wide open dunk by senior big man Kadin Shedrick with four seconds left to tie the game at 79-79. Texas A&M missed its final look to send it to double overtime. In the final frame, it was the Tre Johnson show. The freshman guard hit two tough jumpers, including a 3-pointer to put the Longhorns up 87-85 with two minutes remaining. From there, the Longhorns closed it out.
“The team effort was amazing,” Johnson said postgame. “Everybody fought for both overtimes, the whole 40 minutes. It was just amazing seeing everyone out there fighting, even though we were tired and had guys in foul trouble the whole game.”
Texas lost two of its best players — junior guard Chendall Weaver and senior guard Tramon Mark — to foul trouble in overtime but still got it done. The Longhorns received contributions from multiple players with six players in double-figures, led by Johnson with 20 points. The game featured nine ties and 17 lead changes.
“We knew what we had to do coming into this game, and we got it done,” Mark said. “I’m just so proud of our team.”
Joe Lunardi now has Texas as the last team in the tournament field. The Longhorns are 19-14 overall with wins over tournament teams like Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Vanderbilt and now Texas A&M twice. Overall, Texas is 7-9 against Quad 1 opponents.
“We haven’t been healthy all year long,” head coach Rodney Terry said on whether Texas should be in or not. “Now we’re healthy. We have all of our guys. And we have star power. We have guys that can step up and answer the bell. And we’re an entertaining team to watch play.”
“I most definitely feel like we’ve done enough,” Johnson added. “But we can still go out and get another one.”
Texas, the 13-seed, will play No. 4 Tennessee on Friday in the quarterfinals. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET.
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