Three years after the last meeting between the Texas and Texas A&M men’s basketball teams, a rivalry was rekindled in another country.
After winning the last five against the Aggies, the Longhorns weren’t able to replicate that success in the Bahamas on Wednesday. Poor shooting by Texas and lackluster officiating were major contributors in the 84-73 loss to the Aggies in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament quarterfinals.
The only lead the Longhorns held was on Cameron Ridley’s layup twenty-seconds into the game. Texas A&M tied it on Tyler Davis’ layup half a minute later, then took the lead on Alex Caruso’s jump shot with 17:56 left in the first half. The Aggies never relinquished the lead despite several comebacks from the Longhorns which cut the lead to within a few points each time.
True Freshman guard Eric Davis led the Longhorns in scoring with 19 points and Cameron Ridley added 14 points in the loss. Texas went just 22-37 from the free throw stripe and 7-20 in 3-point attempts.
Daniel House scored 19 points for the Aggies and Anthony Collins and Tyler Davis scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, in the win.
The Longhorns will face the Washington Huskies, a team they lost to 77-71 in the season opener for both teams in Shanghai, China on Thanksgiving Day in the consolation round.
Texas A&M will face the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thanksgiving Night. With a win over Gonzaga the Aggies would advance to the Championship Game on Friday, November 27th.
