No. 22 Texas A&M men’s basketball battled to a 72-67 win over Texas Tech at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon. The Aggies and Red Raiders met on the hardwood in the regular season for the first time since 2012 as part of the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge.
Here are a few takeaways from A&M’s gutsy victory, its first at Dickies Arena in four trips under coach Buzz Williams.
After the Aggies jumped to a hot start and grabbed their largest lead of the game at 26-15, the Red Raiders roared back and made things close the rest of the way. Texas Tech launched a 16-8 run to go into halftime trailing by just three and came out of the break with that same momentum.
Senior guard Elijah Hawkins’ three-pointer gave the Red Raiders their first lead at 38-36 before they stretched it to 5 at the 13:59 mark. Senior guard Zhuric Phelps put the Aggies back in front with a shot from long range, and they never trailed the rest of the way.
“To be in an atmosphere like this with the crowd [the way] it was, it was a one-of-a-kind type of experience,” senior guard Jace Carter said. “This is why you play college basketball. For us to be having fifth-year guys, fourth-year guys, the type of people we have, when it gets to crunch time, games like this, we love it. It’s why we’re at Texas A&M, it’s why we’re playing Texas Tech in December and we’re excited we got a win.”
A&M overcame a sellout crowd of 12,642 that leaned heavily in Texas Tech’s favor. Graduate guard Wade Taylor IV led the way with 19 points while Carter had 16 with with a trio of shots from beyond the arc. Phelps added 12 points and junior forward Solomon Washington brought down nine rebounds with a plus-minus of 20 in 31 minutes.
“It’s been a tough start to the season for me,” Carter said. “I’ve had to reflect on other stuff and kind of just dig deeper into my faith, honestly, and not shy away from the work, not shy away from the controversy. I had to be a grown man and receive the truth.”
The Aggies withstood a three-point barrage from the Red Raiders as super senior guard Chance McMillian and sophomore guard Kevin Overton combined for 40 points and nine shots from beyond the arc.
“Coach always preaches [to] just be us, stick to our foundation,” Phelps said. “It wasn’t that different from that last game that we played. Just being true to our defense and being true to us got us the win.”
The Aggies has their best game of the year when it came to limiting turnovers, an area that has hindered their success this season. A&M gave the ball away just nine times, their fewest of the season. It came on the heels of surrendering its most turnovers of the year with 18 in a win over Wake Forest.
Sunday was the Aggies’ first game of the season in which they limited their giveaways to 10 or less. If they can continue to showcase ball security and take care of the rock, it should open up more opportunities on the offensive end. On the other end of the floor, A&M forced 18 Texas Tech turnovers, the Red Raiders’ most of the season. They were held to their fewest points this year.
“I think [associate head] coach Devin [Johnson], who’s our defensive coordinator, continues to do really impressive things,” Williams said. “One of the things that I just mentioned is he studies, as do all of our coaches, but he studies what he thinks the plan should be. And then we install the plan and practice the plan, and then, in the preparation, he begins to teach our guys and show them pictures of what our adjustments to the plan are going to be.”
Sunday showed just how conducive trips to the charity stripe are to A&M’s scoring fortunes. It sank its second-fewest free throws of the season with 13 after attempting just 18 shots. Thanks to intentional fouls down the stretch, the Aggies avoided their season-low that came in their opening loss to UCF, when they sank eight of 14.
A&M entered the day attempting 26.4 free throws per game, good for 14th in the nation. It’s become a cornerstone of the Aggies’ scoring output, albeit dependent on their ability to draw fouls and, better yet, make the free throws. They hit just five of their first 10 attempts before nailing their next eight.
Find more Texas A&M coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Another deep run in the NCAA Tournament is over for the No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns (26-4) after falling to the No. 3 seed Wisconsin Badgers (28-4) in the Elite Eight on Sunday at Gregory Gymnasium in a 3-1 defeat.
Texas was consistently out of system for the entire match and struggled to consistently match Wisconsin in any area of the game even though the Horns held a statistical edge in several categories. The biggest issue was the subpar performance from junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford, who hit .132 with nine kills and four attacking errors — the Longhorns needed more from their star, outshone on her home court by Badgers standout Mimi Colyer notching a match-high 23 kills on a .309 hitting percentage.
The young Texas team struggled to find answers across the board as head coach Jerritt Elliott tried to find sparks from his bench, a failed effort.
In the first set, both teams came out swinging and stayed neck to neck attacking the net at 5-5. True freshman outside hitter Abby Vander Wal aided the Longhorns with four kills during the set, alongside fellow true freshman outside hitter Cari Spears landing three kills in the first set. Texas was able to gain a small lead as Wisconsin continued to capitalize on attacks and force errors to gain a 23-17 lead. Longhorn middle blocker Nya Bunton snagged a two kills for Texas as the match closed out with Wisconsin taking the opening set, 25-22, despite the Longhorns saving five set points.
In the second set, Wisconsin jumped out to an early 4-2 lead with Colyer snagging early kills. The Longhorns cut the lead to 11-10 by forcing attacking errors, but the Badgers stayed steady, maintaining their lead with outside hitter Grace Egan swinging strong at the net to extending the lead to 18-13. The Longhorns stayed in the match with the leadership of senior outside hitter Whitney Lauenstein tagging four late kills, but the Badges closed the second set, 25-21, having never trailed in it.
All gas in the intense third set with both teams pumping attack after attack with the Longhorns taking a 8-7 lead. While both teams stayed on each others heel’s by countering each other’s attacks until Longhorn setter Rella Binney served back-to-back aces to put Texas up 15-12. The Longhorns stood strong at the net, forcing Badger errors to close the third set, 25-20, to prolong the match, albeit only briefly.
In the fourth set, the Longhorns use the momentum from the third set and go on a 4-0 run with kills from Vander Wal and Spears. The Badgers did not lay down as they were able to for errors and counter attack with the aid of outside hitter Una Vajagic to go on a 12-4 run, putting Wisconsin up, 12-8. The Longhorns managed a 4-0 run while libero Ramsey Gary landed an ace bring the match to 18-15, but the Badgers eventually closed the fourth and final set by forcing seven Longhorn errors to end the match, 25-19.
Yes, it was just two days ago that DFW enjoyed temperatures in the 70s. However, cold winds arrived overnight to push that December warmth away, and frigid arctic air took its place.
Coats, gloves and hats are needed if you head out to support your family or friends in the BMW Dallas Marathon on Sunday morning. Temperatures will start right around freezing with wind gusts around 25 mph.
Bitter cold wind chills are expected throughout the day.
It seems every other year that North Texas gets a winter start to the Dallas marathon. The race starts with mostly cloudy skies, but the skies will clear by Sunday afternoon.
Highs will top out in the low 40s – one of the colder days DFW has had so far this season.
Lows Sunday night dip down into the 20s for the first time at DFW since last February.
The cold air is not sticking around. North Texas will quickly warm up.
After the coldest morning so far this season on Monday, it will be back in the 70s by mid-week. It will also be near record highs by next weekend.
Long-range models show the warm air is lasting until Christmas.
On Saturday night, the 91st Heisman winner will be announced, as Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love are the four finalists who will contend for the most prestigious award college football has to offer.
All four players led their teams to double-digit wins. At the same time, Mendoza and Sayin are headed to the College Football Playoff after Indiana’s Big Ten Championship win over the Buckeyes vaulted the Hoosiers to the No. 1-seed, receiving a first-round bye in the CFP.
For Texas A&M fans, former star quarterback Johnny Manziel, who won the program’s second Heisman Trophy after his historic 2012 redshirt freshman season, was back in the news after Bleacher Report revealed back-to-back rushing comparisons to Jeremiyah Love’s prolific 2025 rushing production, which led to him becoming a Heisman finalist.
Manziel threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns, while rushing for an incredible 1,410 yards and 21 touchdowns on 201 carries, averaging seven yards per carry. Love, whose entire job is running and catching the ball, ran for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns on 199 carries, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
This takes nothing away from Jeremiyah Love’s incredible season, but is just another reason Johnny Manziel’s 2012 season is still regarded as the most outstanding Heisman-winning campaign, outside of former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s 2010 Heisman season.
After throwing for 2,932 yards and 25 touchdowns, Texas A&M star QB Marcel Reed did not make the Heisman finalist cut.
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