In a game in which winning didn’t provide much benefit for Texas A&M, the Aggies played like it. The Oklahoma Sooners jumped on A&M early in their second round SEC Tournament game in Nashville, and cruised to a comfortable 83-63 win to send the Aggies back to College Station early.
While A&M certainly wasn’t trying to lose this game, it’s foolish to think a lack of motivation didn’t play a factor in a game where the difference in effort was apparent from the outset. The Aggies entered this game right
on the line between a 9 or a 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and strangely enough, the lower seed is absolutely where you want to be. While you get a slightly more difficult first round game (against a 7 seed rather than a 9 seed), you also avoid having to play a 1 seed in the second round should you win.
Add that to the fact that advancing further in the SEC Tournament just means less rest for the Aggies before The Big Dance, and you can see why most Aggie fans probably aren’t losing much sleep over this loss. A&M is a tourney lock already, and moving down a seed like might actually be to their benefit. Not to mention that if Oklahoma can win a game and sneak into the field, they might do so at the expense of rival Texas.
That said, Oklahoma was going to be a tough out in this game no matter what. They haven’t lost since being defeated by the Ags earlier this month, and are playing with a great sense of urgency. They were the better team throughout and will move on to face Arkansas on Friday night.
A&M, meanwhile, will head home and gear up for Selection Sunday. The team will hold a Selection Sunday watch party at The Green at Century Square in College Station beginning at 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
