Jaxson Robinson can build on his best game yet vs. his first school, Texas A&M

Jaxson Robinson played his best game of the season at Mississippi State on Saturday, hitting seven threes en route to 27 points, just one shy of his career high. Robinson’s performance helped Kentucky notch its first true road win and was a breakthrough for the graduate wing, who hit a rough patch in recent weeks. Tonight, Robinson can build on that against the program with which he began his college career, Texas A&M.

Five years ago, Robinson was the best high school basketball player in Oklahoma. A top-40, four-star prospect in the 2021 class, he committed to Texas A&M in January 2020, picking the Aggies over Arkansas, Houston, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa. Buzz Williams was in his second season at Texas A&M at the time and Robinson was his most highly-ranked commitment yet. In May, Robinson decided he’d achieved all he could at the high school level and reclassified to enroll at A&M that fall. Sadly, the pandemic threw a wrench in his plans.

Texas A&M was one of the programs hit hardest by COVID, with eight games postponed and never made up. The Aggies didn’t play a game the entire month of February. Robinson originally planned to redshirt his freshman year at A&M but once the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility, decided to give it a go. He played in 14 games, averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in only 9.7 minutes per contest. The Aggies finished 8-10 that season and just 2-8 in the SEC.

“It was tough,” Robinson told KSR earlier this season. “We weren’t a great team. We were at the bottom of the SEC that year. Everybody kept getting COVID. We had to cancel a whole bunch of games. We didn’t play a lot of our games.”

College Station is five hours from Robinson’s hometown of Ada, Oklahoma, so Robinson’s parents would make the drive to see him when they could. At the end of the season, he decided to transfer to Arkansas to play for Eric Musselman. As a Razorback, Robinson played against Texas A&M twice, going scoreless in both games, which were both losses. The Aggies ousted Arkansas from the 2022 SEC Tournament, just as they did Kentucky in 2024. After another difficult season (albeit for different reasons), Robinson hit the portal in search of a fresh start, which he found in Provo, Utah with Mark Pope.

You could try to classify this as a “revenge game,” but I think that phrase would be better suited for Kentucky’s game vs. Arkansas on Feb. 1. If there are any hard feelings for Robinson’s year at Texas A&M, they’re probably directed at the pandemic. Only one player remains from the 2020-21 Aggies roster: graduate guard Hayden Hefner, who was in Robinson’s signing class.

“It was a rough experience,” Robinson said of his year in College Station. “But I think looking back on it now, I think it was something I definitely needed to go through just some adversity, something that helped me feel stronger and build confidence.”

“He’s a beautiful kid,” Buzz Williams said of Robinson on Monday. “COVID was a tough experience for everybody, including him. I still have great relationships with his parents and we’ve done this before. He was at Arkansas when he left here. He’s a really good player and was a really good player when he was here.”

“I think Texas A&M, Arkansas, BYU, Kentucky, you could argue he’s been really good to close down his career, even at BYU. He’s a big part of what they’re doing.”

For more on Jaxson Robinson’s journey, I’ll direct you to my in-depth feature from December. Here’s hoping he adds another full-circle moment to it tonight with a strong showing vs. the Aggies.

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