Credit to Brad Marquardt | Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 2-seeded Aggies will face the winner of the #7/#10 game between Auburn and Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the 2023 SEC Tournament at 6 p.m. on Friday at Bridgestone Arena.
- It is the second time the Aggies have earned a coveted double-bye at the SEC Tournament. The 2015-16 Aggies were the top seed and reached the final of the 2016 SEC Tournament.
- At last year’s tournament in Tampa, Fla., the Aggies won three games, including upsets of top-seeded Auburn (67-62) and #4 Arkansas (82-64) to reach the final where they fell to #2 Tennessee (65-50).
MAKING HISTORY:
The Aggies’ 15-3 league record was the team’s best-ever SEC worksheet, supplanting the 13-5 mark by the 2016 SEC regular season championship squad.
It’s first time Texas A&M has posted 15 victories in conference play in exactly 100 years when the 1922-23 Aggie basketball team was coached by National Football Foundation Hall of Famer D.X. Bible and the original 12th Man, E. King Gill, was earning All-Southwest Conference honors on the hardwood just over a year after coming out of the stands in case he was needed in the Aggie football team’s win over over Centre College in the 1922 Dixie Classic in Dallas.
TRENDS & STREAKS:
- Texas A&M leads the nation in FTM and FTA with an average of 19.4-25.4, and its FT% of .762 leads the SEC.
- As of 3/8, Texas A&M is the only team in DI basketball with 600 or more free throws made. The Aggies average 1.7 more FTM/G than any other team in Div. I college basketball.
- Texas A&M is the only SEC team with over 750 FTA, and the Aggies have shot 100+ more free throws than 10 SEC teams and 200+ more than six teams.
- Texas A&M is a SEC-best 22-4 in its last 26 games against SEC opponents (includes SEC tournament).
- The Aggies allowed a SEC-low avg. of 26.7 first-half points in conference play and limited opponents to 30 or fewer in 13-of-18 SEC games, including the past 3.
- Wade Taylor IV and SEC POY Brandon Miller are the SEC’s only players to score 500+ points for the season and 300+ points in SEC play. Taylor IV joins 2012-13 All-SEC first-teamer Elston Turner as lone Aggies to do it since joining the SEC.
- Tyrece Radford had 10+ points in 14-of-18 SEC games.
- After averaging only 2.5 free throw attempts per game for the first three years of his career, Tyrece Radford is making 5.4 trips to the charity stripe per game in 2022-23. Radford’s 80.2 FT% is markedly improved from last year when he hit 67.1% from the line. Radford’s three-year FT% entering 2022-23 was 70.6%.
- Taylor and Radford were the SEC’s highest scoring guard tandem in league play at 30.9 points/G. Against AP Top 25 opponents, the pair combined for a 38.5 scoring average.
- Texas A&M was the only SEC team with two players hitting better than 50.0% from the field (min. 200 FGA): Henry Coleman III (.535) and Julius Marble (.533).
- The Aggies are 11-1 when super sub Andersson Garcia logs 5 or more rebounds and 14-2 when he scores 3 or more points. If “makes winning plays off the bench” was a stat, Garcia would be the SEC leader.
- There are 10 total players in the SEC averaging 13.0+ points and 5.0+ rebounds per game. Texas A&M’s 6-foot-2 Tyrece Radford is the SEC’s only 13.0+/5.0+ player under 6-foot-8.
- Texas A&M’s tandem of Dexter Dennis and Tyrece “Boots” Radford is the ONLY 6-foot-5 or shorter pair nationally with 700-plus career rebounds.
FEARLESS “4” ON A HEATER:
Sophomore G Wade Taylor IV’ closed out the regular season on a heater compared to his full season and SEC-only statistics.
Stat Last 8 gms Season SEC only
Scoring/G 21.3 16.3 16.3
3FG % .429 .365 .350
3-pointers/G 3.0 2.3 2.3
FT/G 8.5 4.9 5.2
FTA/G 9.4 5.6 5.7
Minutes/G 33.0 28.6 30.8
TOP SEC GUARD TANDEMS:
Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford were the SEC’s highest scoring guard tandem in league play at 30.9 points/G.
Players, School Points Avg.
Wade Taylor IV/Tyrece Radford, TAMU 556 30.9
Kobe Brown/D’Moi Hodge, MIZZ 509 28.3
Ricky Council IV/Anthony Black, ARK 506 28.1
Wendell Green Jr./Allen Flanigan, AUB 474 26.3
Antonio Reeves/Cason Wallace, UK 462 25.7
RANDOM NOTABLES:
- Texas A&M’s 15 league victories record tied for 2nd-most conference victories in school history, matching the 15-3 Southwest Conference record by D.X. Bible’s 2022-23 cagers)
- The school record for conference wins remains 16 by Bill Driver’s 1919-20 juggernaut, which cruised to the Southwest Conference Championship. Captained by E.E. McQuillian, the 1919-20 Aggies remain the program’s lone team to go through the entire season unscathed (19-0).
- Texas A&M was the fourth team in SEC history to tally 15 or more league wins and not win or share the conference regular season championship.
- The resilient Aggies overcome deficits of eight points or more in six of their last 12 SEC contests, including a trio of 12-point comebacks vs. Auburn (2/7), Arkansas (2/15) and Ole Miss (2/29).
- The biggest rally of 2022-23 came against Northwestern State on 12/27 when the Aggies overcame a 15-point deficit (at the 9:04 mark in 1st half) for a 64-52 win over the Demons.
- Easily the Aggies’ most prolific shooter from deep, Wade Taylor IV has improved his 3-point % significantly from last year. Taylor is hitting 36.5% in 2022-23 after making 27.8% as a freshman.
- Taylor has logged over 180 more minutes (equivalent of 4.5 games) in 2022-23’s 31 games (883:15) than he did in 40 games as a freshman (701:27).
- Taylor is one of three players in NCAA DI with 500+ points, 125+ assists and 50+ steals while making 85% or better on free throw attempts. Others are Markquis Nowell of Kansas State and Kendric Davis of Memphis.
- The Aggies’ starting lineup has a definite Pelican State flavor with at least two Louisiana natives in it for every game except one – Tyrece Radford (Baton Rouge) and Dexter Dennis (Baker). Dennis missed the Aggies’ penultimate game of the regular season due to a sprained left knee.
- The defensive-minded duo of Andersson Garcia and Andre Gordon have been the first players off the bench either individually or as a pair every game since 12/30.
- The Aggies’ 2022-23 roster was bolstered by the addition of six newcomers in the offseason — five transfers and one scholarship freshman. Headlining the group was Dexter Dennis, who was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Wichita State in 2021-22, and Julius Marble, who helped Michigan State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Both have earned spots in the starting five.
HOME SWEET HOME:
- The Aggies was 15-1 at the friendly confines of Reed Arena, including 9-0 vs. SEC opponents at home.
- The 2022-23 Aggies were the first Texas A&M team to go undefeated in league play at Reed Arena since the facility’s debut in 1998-99, and the first squad to do it in any home arena since the 1979-80 team accomplished the feat with an 8-0 Southwest Conference mark at G. Rollie White Coliseum (demolished in 2013).
- The Aggies drew seven straight home crowds of 10,000+ fans to Reed Arena to close out the 2022-23 season, including complete sellouts of 12,989 for the final two games of the regular season. It’s the first time that Reed Arena has drawn seven straight 10,000+ crowds since 2009-10 when the Aggies closed out the regular season with seven straight.
- Texas A&M’s 2022-23 average home attendance through 16 home dates was 9,280, which ranked No. 5 on the Reed Arena season list and was easily the high-water mark of the Buzz Williams era (previous best was 6,948 in 2019-20).
HONORING ALISE AVIHLA:
Tyrece Radford cut off his trademark dreadlocks prior to the Aggies’ Jan. 11 matchup with Missouri to honor his academic mentor at Virginia Tech, Alise Svihla, who is battling stage 4 colon cancer.
- UPDATE: On Feb. 24, Svihla tweeted from @alise757: “Tumors are shrinking, no signs of spreading, chemo is working, God is good! Got to celebrate the good news by surprising my goddaughters for their birthday! Round 5 starts Monday- keep those prayers coming!”
- An academic redshirt as a freshman, Radford, with Svihla’s guidance, earned his degree from Virginia Tech in three years. He will leave Texas A&M with a master’s degree in recreation and youth development.
- At the Jan. 28 “Breast Cancer Awareness” game, the Aggies wore special uniforms with pink accents. Radford’s jersey had “SVIHLA” on the back rather than “RADFORD.”
COLEMAN CONSISTENCY:
Junior F Henry Coleman III was one of five returning SEC players to average more than 11 points and six rebounds per game in 2021-22, joining Colin Castleton of Florida, Jordan Wright of Vanderbilt, Kobe Brown of Missouri and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky.
- Coleman and teammate Tyrece Radford rank among an elite group of Aggies that have averaged 10.0+ points/5.0 rebounds for their careers (minimum 70 games | since 1995-96).
Career 10.0+ pts/5.0+ rebs Aggies
(Minimum 70 games played)
Rk Player, Years Pts/G Rebs/G
1. Antoine Wright, 2003-05 15.4 5.6
2. Shanne Jones, 1997-99 14.6 5.6
3. Tyler Davis, 2015-18 13.4 7.4
4. Joseph Jones, 2005-08 12.8 6.4
5. Tyrece Radford, 2022-present 11.9 5.9
6. Henry Coleman III, 2022-present 10.3 5.9
*-Since 1996-97
DENNIS THE MENACE:
Graduate guard Dexter Dennis joined the Aggies for the 2022-23 season after a standout career at Wichita State that included earning the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year Award in the American Athletic Conference.
- Dennis has posted nine career double-doubles, including four in 2022-23. Dennis tallied consecutive double-doubles with 14 points/11 rebounds vs. ARK and 17/10 vs. MIZZ.
- Dennis matched Robert Williams’ school record for rebounds vs. a SEC opponent with 16 rebounds vs. Florida on Jan. 18.