News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
DENVER – The No. 4 seed Texas A&M men’s basketball team faces the No. 13 seed Yale Bulldogs in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at 6:25 p.m. on Thursday inside Denver’s Ball Arena.
- 2025 marks the third-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for the Aggies, which hadn’t been accomplished by the program since making six straight trips more than a decade ago from 2006-11.
- It will be the second-ever meeting between the Aggies and Bulldogs and first since a second-round matchup at the 1975 Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, Kansas, which resulted in a 71-62 victory by Dr. Shelby Metcalf’s Aggies.
- The No. 4 seeding by the Aggies was the third-highest in program history behind a pair of No. 3 seeds in 2007 and 2016.
- Texas A&M has a 14-17 record in 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
|
Statistic |
Yale |
Rank |
Texas A&M |
Rank |
|
Scoring Offense |
81.7 |
23 |
74.3 |
158 |
|
Scoring Defense |
69.7 |
108 |
67.9 |
59 |
|
Scoring Margin |
11.9 |
17 |
6.4 |
83 |
|
Field Goal % |
49.0 |
10 |
41.6 |
322 |
|
Free Throw % |
73.2 |
137 |
69.5 |
266 |
|
Free Throws/G |
14.1 |
152 |
17.4 |
16 |
|
FT Attempts/G |
19.3 |
173 |
25.0 |
11 |
|
3-Point % |
38.8 |
8 |
31.1 |
316 |
|
3-Pointers/G |
7.6 |
182 |
7.0 |
T-256 |
|
3-Point Attempts/G |
19.7 |
302 |
22.5 |
180 |
|
FG% Defense |
40.6 |
30 |
40.3 |
25 |
|
3-Point % Defense |
33 |
138 |
33.4 |
168 |
|
Fouls/G |
16.1 |
120 |
17.3 |
T-216 |
|
Rebound Margin |
7.2 |
14 |
9.3 |
3 |
|
Off. Rebounds/G |
11.1 |
136 |
16.2 |
1 |
|
Def. Rebounds/G |
27.6 |
18 |
25.0 |
T-151 |
|
Rebounds/G |
38.7 |
26 |
41.2 |
5 |
|
Assist/Turnover Ratio |
1.64 |
8 |
0.96 |
299 |
|
Turnovers Forced/G |
11.3 |
232 |
13.4 |
61 |
|
Effective FG pct |
.553 |
37 |
.475 |
324 |
As of 3/16
Aggies vs. the Ivy League
|
Date |
Opponent (RK) |
Result |
TAMU |
Opp |
|
12/20/75 |
~Yale` |
W |
71 |
62 |
|
12/17/1989 |
*Dartmouth |
L |
51 |
64 |
|
01/05/1993 |
Brown |
W |
92 |
52 |
|
12/27/1994 |
#Princeton |
L |
66 |
71 |
|
12/02/1995 |
$Columbia |
W |
65 |
49 |
|
12/27/1996 |
%Princeton |
L |
38 |
46 |
|
12/27/2002 |
^Princeton |
L |
62 |
76 |
|
03/15/2007 |
&Penn |
W |
68 |
52 |
|
11/28/2019 |
+Harvard |
L |
51 |
62 |
~ – Jayhawk Classic, Lawrence, Kan.
* – Lobster Shootout, Bangor, Maine
# – UNO Christmas Classic, New Orleans, La.
$ – First Bank Classic, Milwaukee, Wisc.
% – Sierra Medical Center SunClassic, El Paso, Texas
^ – Cable Car Classic, Santa Clara, Calif.
& – NCAA Tournament, Lexington, Ky.
+ – Orlando Invitational, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
NEED-TO-KNOWS
BATTLE-TESTED: Nine Texas A&M players have played at least one game at the NCAA Tournament, including six players that have seen action in three games in March Madness. Leading the way in minutes played is Wade Taylor IV (100), followed by Andersson Garcia (72), Solomon Washington (65), Henry Coleman III (64) and Jace Carter (53).
Additionally, the Aggies’ core group of Taylor, Coleman, Obaseki and Hayden Hefner played five games in the run to the 2022 NIT Championship game.
WADE AT NCAAS: Wade Taylor IV averages 18.7 points in three career NCAA Tournament games, which is third-highest among players in the tournament field with multiple career games played. Ahead of WT4 are Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. (24.0 in 2G) and Arizona’s Trey Townsend (23.5 in 2G).
ONE OF A KIND: Texas A&M is D1’s only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (No. 5, 41.2/G), offensive rebounds (No. 1, 16.2/G) and rebound margin (tNo. 3, 9.3/G).
SUM OF PARTS: Among the 11 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M , Kennesaw State and Tennessee State are only schools without a player averaging at least 7.0+ rebounds/G.
SHOOT MORE, ALLOW LESS: The Aggies are one of 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament that take 5.0 or more field goal attempts than their opponents. The Aggies average 60.0 FGA/G while limiting their opponents to 55.0/G.
EARNING MORE SHOTS: The Aggies earn more FGA by crashing the offensive glass like no other D1 team. Texas A&M’s 16.2 offensive rebounds/G are 1.5 more than the No. 2 ranked team (UAB, 14.7/G).
Among teams in the 2025 Tournament field, only Texas A&M, St. John’s (14.5) and St. Mary’s (14.1) average more than 14.0 offensive rebounds per game.
EARNING MORE SHOTS, PART II: Another key to Texas A&M’s offensive success to earning trips to the free throw line. The Maroon & White’s 25.0 FTA/G ranks No. 4 among teams in the Tournament field and the Aggies are one of seven teams averaging more than 17 FTM/G.
The Aggies are 17-5 when hitting least 65% of their FTA and 5-5 when connecting on less than 65%. Similarly, the Aggies are 17-6 when they earn 20 or more FTA.
AGAINST THE IVIES: Historically, Texas A&M has struggled against Ivy League opponents with a 4-5 record against the schools. On a positive note, the Aggies are 1-0 vs. Ivies in the NCAA Tournament with a 68-52 win over Penn in the 2007 NCAAs.
MILESTONES TO WATCH
- Wade Taylor IV needs nine 3-pointers to match the school record of 299 set by Josh Carter from 2006-09.
- Taylor needs 11 assists to reach 500 for his career. No SEC player has ever logged 500 assists and 2,000 points. His 489 assists are already more than any 2,000-point scorer in SEC history (Alabama’s Mark Sears has reached 2,000/500 but not as a SEC player).
- Currently registering a 85.4 FT%, Taylor is on pace to break the career mark of 84.6 by Mike Floyd from 1972-75.
- Thursday’s game will be No. 140 for Taylor, which is already the school record for four-year players.
- Henry Coleman’s next assist will be No. 100 for his career at Duke and Texas A&M.
- Hayden Hefner needs one more game to match Kourtney Roberson’s record for career games played of 142 set from 2010-15.
A&M’S NCAA TOURNAMENT RECORDS
INDIVIDUAL
|
POINTS |
26, Josh Carter vs BYU (2008); Acie Law IV vs Louisville (2007) |
|
TOTAL REBOUNDS |
16, Steve Niles vs Trinity (1969) |
|
ASSISTS |
8, TJ Starks vs Providence (2018) |
|
STEALS |
4, Alex Caruso vs Green Bay & Oklahoma (2016); Dominique Kirk vs Syracuse (2006); Mike Clifford vs Duke (1987) |
|
BLOCKS |
4, Solomon Washington vs. Nebraska (2024) |
|
MINUTES PLAYED |
47, Rynn Wright vs UNC (1980) |
|
FIELD GOALS MADE |
11, Tyler Davis vs Michigan (2018); Bennie Lenox vs UTEP (1964) |
|
FG ATTEMPTED |
25, Bennie Lenox vs UTEP (1964) |
|
FG PERCENTAGE |
1.000 (6-6), Steve Niles vs Trinity (1969) |
|
3-PT. FIELD GOALS |
7, Wade Taylor IV vs Nebraska (2024) |
|
3-PT. FG ATTEMPTED |
11, Tyrece Radford vs. Penn State (2023) |
|
3-PT. FG PERCENTAGE |
.833 (5-6), Khris Middleton vs Utah State (2010) |
|
FREE THROWS MADE |
13, Acie Law IV vs Louisville (2007) |
|
FT ATTEMPTED |
15, Acie Law IV vs Louisville (2007) |
|
FT PERCENTAGE |
1.000 (8-8), Acie Law IV vs Syracuse (2006), (5-5) Wade Taylor IV vs. Penn State (2024) |
TV/RADIO
- The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network, locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM or worldwide on the 12th Man Mobile App with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton describing the action.
- The game will be televised on TBS with Brad Nessler, Brendan Haywood and Dana Jacobson providing the description.
- Westwood One handles the national radio call with Kevin Kugler and Austin Croshere describing the action. The Westwood One call can be found on SiriusXM at 203 or 210.