Men's Hoops: Texas boosts NCAA Tournament résumé with a 76-70 road win over Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — With Tramon Mark (a game-high 23 points) and Jordan Pope (17 points) combining for 40 points, and Sean Miller's team coming through with arguably its best defensive performance of the season, Texas took a huge step toward securing an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 76-70 road win over Texas A&M at Reed Arena on Saturday.

The Longhorns held the Aggies 18 points under their season scoring average (88.7 points per game) on their second-worst shooting performance (38.6) in an SEC game this season, including a 5-for-19 effort from 3-point range (tying a season low for 3-pointers made by Bucky McMillan's squad). Texas (18-11, 9-7 SEC) dominated Texas A&M (19-10, 9-7) on the glass to the tune of a 41-32 edge (the third-most rebounds by a Texas A&M opponent this season) en route to a victory that guarantees the Longhorns of finishing at least .500 in conference play.

While both clubs remained among the last four teams safely in the field of 68 just after tipping off, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Texas now has a chance to finish in the top eight of the conference standings and get a bye in the SEC Tournament with a win over Oklahoma in next Saturday's regular-season finale at Moody Center.

Here's how the Longhorns avoided a third straight loss and gave themselves some breathing room with regular-season games left on the schedule:

FIRST HALF

Texas 7, Texas A&M 3 (15:55)

The Longhorns led the Aggies by four at the first media timeout, a position in which they were highly fortunate to find themselves.

Daylin Swain and Matas Vokietaitis both picked up two fouls by the 16:35 mark, with Vokietaitis needing to be lifted for Nic Codie 63 seconds into the game. With five team fouls at the game’s first stoppage, the Longhorns’ tough challenge of dealing with the size of the Aggies' front court, due to Lassina Traore missing a sixth straight game with a knee issue, became even more daunting.

Texas 16, Texas A&M 10 (11:21)

Avoiding another team foul after Swain picked up his second, the Longhorns got huge three-point plays from Tramon Mark and Chendall Weaver to go into the second media timeout of the half up by six.

With Traore out and Vokietaitis on the bench, the Aggies went after Codie and Cam Heide while hunting paint points. Credit Codie, however, for making two tremendous defensive plays to deny Rashaun Agee points, including a swipe of the ball to send it out of bounds when Agee had his eyes on a dunk down the right side of the lane.

Texas A&M opened the game just 3-for-13 from the field. That was due in part to how well Texas defended, especially without Swain and Vokietaitis on the court.

Mark’s block of an Ali Dibba 3-pointer to force a shot-clock violation highlighted a good stretch of play on the defensive end of the floor by the Longhorns.

Texas 20, Texas A&M 15 (7:42)

The Aggies entered the third media timeout of the half in a 1-for-8 shooting slump, including five consecutive missed shots, which led to a 3:13 drought without a field goal. Accounting for three of the Longhorns’ six blocked shots, Codie did his part to help Texas own a 10-4 edge in points in the paint.

Texas 29, Texas A&M 28 (3:13)

A 3:31 scoreless stretch and an 11-0 run by the Aggies ended with a driving bucket by Swain at the 5:09 mark of the half. Even though Jordan Pope had a 3-pointer changed to a 2-point field goal after a video review, Texas outscored the Aggies 9-4 heading into the third media timeout, regaining a one-point lead in the process.

Texas A&M 30, Texas 29 (HALFTIME)

While the Longhorns missed their last six shots of the half, the Aggies weren’t much better, going 1-for-7 from the field. Nevertheless, Agee’s bucket inside the final minute of the half put Texas A&M on top heading into the locker room.

Agee (14 points on 5-for-9 shooting) carried the Aggies offensively, with the rest of the team shooting the ball at a 5-for-24 clip. Texas got 11 points in 11 minutes from Swain (4-for-7 shooting), but the rest of the squad combined to go 7-for-23.

Texas A&M only turned eight Longhorn turnovers into three points at the other end of the floor. That, along with the Aggies owning just a 5-3 edge in bench scoring, helped Texas survive the early foul woes, with Swain and Vokietaitis starting the second half with two fouls apiece.

SECOND HALF

Texas 37, Texas A&M 34 (15:57)

The offensive struggles continued for both sides to start the second half. Nevertheless, Mark’s elbow jumper before the first media timeout, his second bucket since coming out of the locker room, put the Longhorns up by three.

Texas was doing what it needed to in a slow, grind-it-out kind of game, owning a plus-four edge in rebounding (28-24) and keeping pace with Texas A&M in paint scoring (20 points for both sides).

Texas 42, Texas A&M 36 (14:15)

A 3-pointer by Pope and Mark finding Vokietaitis for a transition dunk after Swain rebounded a missed 3-point attempt by Agee extended the Texas lead to six, prompting Bucky McMillan to burn a timeout to talk things over with his Aggies. A 6-for-13 effort from the field helped the Longhorns stay in front of a Texas A&M squad that was 3-for-7 (0-for-2 from 3-point range) shooting the ball to start the second half.

Texas 46, Texas A&M 42 (11:22)

Marcus Hill’s stretch of six consecutive points for the Aggies gave him 17 points heading into the under-12 media timeout, which was triggered when the Longhorns committed a shot-clock violation. With a combined 33 points on 13-for-21 shooting, Hill (7-for-9) and Agee (16 points on 6-for-12 shooting) were carrying Texas A&M offensively.

Texas 55, Texas A&M 51 (6:42)

A friendly bounce helped Simeon Wilcher convert a 3-pointer in transition to put the Longhorns up by seven. But his block of Hill's shot attempt in the lane led to Mark finishing in traffic, which made just as big a difference in Texas maintaining a lead over the Aggies.

Texas 63, Texas A&M 56 (3:52)

With Swain and Vokietaitis in foul trouble (four each), Heide and Mark made critical shots on consecutive possessions to help the Longhorns stem the tide.

After the Aggies cut their deficit to three, Heide’s 3-pointer from the wing made it a six-point game again, 60-54. Mark answered two made free throws by Rylan Griffen with a 3-pointer in front of the Texas bench with the shot clock winding down at the 4:14 mark.

That’s where things stood coming out of the last media timeout of regulation. Swain and Vokietaitis checked back in for the closing minutes, with the Longhorns looking to secure their ninth SEC victory.

Texas 67, Texas A&M 58 (2:47)

A baseline drive for two by Weaver and a steal by Pope that led to a pair of free throws for Mark at the other end put the Longhorns up by nine, their largest lead of the game.

Texas 71, Texas A&M 62 (53.3 seconds)

Griffen’s missed 3-pointer with 1:41 to go after Dibba picked Swain’s pocket prevented what would’ve been a huge momentum swing going the Aggies’ way. After Swain rebounded the miss (Texas A&M was 3-for-16 from 3-point range at this point), Miller called a timeout with 1:25 remaining in regulation, setting up Pope’s short-corner jumper with 1:14 to go and the shot clock winding down.

Texas 75, Texas A&M 65 (21.5 seconds)

After a 3-pointer by Griffen, the Longhorns successfully inbounded the ball, which eventually led to a foul and two free throws for Mark. He converted the two-shot situation with Texas in the double bonus, and a bucket by Isaacs and a subsequent timeout by McMillan proved to be too little, too late.

Texas 76, Texas A&M 70 (FINAL)

The late surge by the Aggies was all for naught. Mark’s game-high 23 points, Pope’s 17-point afternoon, Swain’s 11-point, 10-rebound effort, a 15-for-16 performance from the foul line and a defensive effort that saw Texas A&M go 23-for-60 (38.3 percent, including 5-for-19 from beyond the arc) carried the Longhorns to a résumé-boosting win in Aggieland.