Texas A&M shoots over, pushes past No. 6 Tennessee in College Station, 85-69

COLLEGE STATION — Halftime couldn’t arrive soon enough for No. 6 Tennessee Saturday night at Texas A&M. The Aggies couldn’t miss from the 3-point line and the Vols couldn’t get a shot to drop. 

But even getting to the locker room at the break didn’t help. Officials overturned a previous goal-tending call as they were going off the floor at the end of the first half and the deficit went from 12 points to 14.

It was that kind of night at Reed Arena.

Texas A&M and Wade Taylor IV were red hot, Tennessee and Dalton Knecht was ice cold and the Vols couldn’t rebound a miss on either end and the Aggies rolled in an 85-69 win in front of a raucous capacity crowd.

Knecht scored 22 on 6-for-15 shooting and Zakai Zeigler had 15 more but went 1-for-8 from the 3-point line as Tennessee (17-6, 7-3 SEC) shot just 37.1% from the field and 27.6% from three.

Texas A&M (15-8, 6-4) bombed away behind 25 points from Taylor and a game-high 27 from Tyrece Radford. The Aggies shot 47.5% from the field and went 11-for-20 at the 3-point line. Taylor and Radford combined to go 17-for-35 from the field and 7-for-18 from the 3-point line.

The nightmare in the first half only got worse after halftime. Two Knecht misses at the free-throw line was followed by another Texas A&M 3-pointer to make it a 17-point game. Next, a turnover by the Vols directly out of a timeout.

The A&M lead was 22 with 13:48 left, it largest of the game, on a Radford three. The Vols cut it to 12 on three different occasions in the final seven minutes but could get not closer.

Texas A&M built 14-point lead in first half after making eight 3-pointers

The 14-point lead at halftime matched the biggest of the game to that point for A&M. 

The Aggies, one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in college basketball according to KenPom.com — they ranked No. 358 (out of 362) in 3-point percentage — started 8-for-13 from the 3-point line, making all eight in the first 12 minutes, 22 seconds. 

Taylor started a perfect 5-for-5 at the 3-point line before finally missing a transition pull-up from the top of the key. He finished with 15 points in the first half, ahead of 12 from Radford. The two combined to go 10-for-20 from the field in the first half, including 6-for-10 from the 3-point line. 

Texas A&M entered the game averaging 6.5 made 3-pointers per game and hadn’t made more than six in a game since January 20. The previous season high for the Aggies was 14.

Tennessee, on the other hand, shot 33.3% from the field in the first half and went 3-for-13 from the 3-point line. Knecht had 10 points at the break, after missing his first three shots from the field, and Aidoo had six points and five rebounds. 

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at Arkansas, Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Tennessee is back on the road at Arkansas on Wednesday for a 9 p.m. ET start on ESPN2. The Vols close the February schedule with three of four games at home, hosting Vanderbilt (February 17), going to Missouri (February 20) and then home dates with Texas A&M (February 24) and Auburn (February 28).

The March schedule is loaded with road games at Alabama (March 2) and South Carolina (March 6) before closing the regular season at home against Kentucky on Senior Day in Knoxville (March 9).

The SEC Tournament is set for March 13-17 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and the NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed on Sunday, March 17.