Credit to Brad Marquardt | Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Coming off a record-setting 2022-23 season, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team returns the majority of last season’s roster and bolstered it with key newcomers as the Aggies gear up for the highly anticipated 2023-24 season.
Across the board, Aggie Basketball is mentioned prominently in the early preseason rankings – ranging from No. 6 in The Athletic, to No. 13 by Sports Illustrated, to No. 15 by FoxSports.com, to No. 18 by CBSSports.com, to No. 19 by ESPN.com.
The Aggies lost just a single player that exhausted his collegiate eligibility in 2022-23. Leading the group of returnees are Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford, who both earned All-SEC honors last year. All told, the team’s 2022-23 individual leaders in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, 3-pointers and free throws will be back in action for the Aggies.
Big crowds flooded to Reed Arena last season with more than 100,000 fans streaming through the turnstiles for the nine SEC home contests after New Year’s Day. The Aggies closed out the home schedule with seven straight crowds of 10,000 or more, including a pair of sellouts. The full season home average of 9,280 was the fifth-most in school history.
Texas A&M Athletics is investing in the future of the men’s basketball program by adjusting ticket prices for the upcoming season. The increased cost returns the price point to the levels set a decade ago and puts Aggie Basketball pricing in line with peer programs in the SEC. Ticket price increases range from 21% in the balcony and prime balcony, 24% in the prime sideline and sideline/corner court, 27% on the baseline and 31% for floor and courtside. Annual seat contributions through the 12th Man Foundation will remain the same for the 2023-24 season.
Ticket packages for new season ticket purchasers are available now via the 12thManFoundation.com, while renewals for current season ticket holders begins in July.
Reviewing the 2022-23 season:
- The Aggies earned an invitation to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
- The team won 15 SEC games, which broke the previous program-high of 13 conference wins by the 2015-16 SEC Championship team.
- It was the most conference wins for the Aggies in any league in exactly 100 years, matching the 1922-23 cagers that were led by all-conference selection, E. King Gill, who is also known as the original 12th Man.
- The Aggies were undefeated at home in conference play (9-0) for the first time since the 1979-80 squad went 8-0 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
- Williams became the first Texas A&M head coach to lead the Aggies to back-to-back seasons with 25 or more wins.
- Williams earned SEC Coach of the Year honors from the Associated Press for the second time in four seasons at Texas A&M.
- Williams also received SEC Co-Coach of the Year honors by a vote of his peers in 2022-23.
- Williams collected District 20 Coach of the Year honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and coached the victorious West team in the NABC Reese’s College All-Star Game during Final Four weekend in Houston, Texas.
Looking at the past two seasons:
- The Aggies have tallied the two highest-ranked victories in program history with a 67-61 win over No. 2 Alabama in the 2022-23 regular season finale and a 67-62 triumph of No. 4 Auburn in the 2022 SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
- Texas A&M has won 25 games or more in back-to-back seasons for the second time in school history with 25 wins in 2022-23 following 27 victories from 2021-22. The other back-to-back 25+ win-teams were Billy Gillispie’s final Texas A&M team in 2006-07 (27-7) and Mark Turgeon’s first team in 2007-08 (25-11).
- The 52 wins over the past two seasons matched the program’s top two-year win total (also accomplished by the 2006-07 and 2007-08 teams).
- Texas A&M reached the final of the SEC Tournament the past two seasons for the first time since joining the elite league in 2012-13. In fact, it was the first time Texas A&M reached the SEC semifinals in consecutive years.
- Texas A&M reached the final of a conference tournament in consecutive years for the first time since Shelby Metcalf’s Aggies reached the final of the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1986 and 1987.
- The 27-13 record in 2021-22 tied for the second-most wins in a season and the 40 total games were a program high.
- The Aggies’ 2022 appearance in the NIT Championship was a program first.