Texas A&M is headed to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after defeating Saint Mary’s 63-50 on Thursday night, as the Aggies were dominant from start to finish, and did not trail the entire game. Led by an impressive defensive effort, first-year head coach Bucky McMillan is, and should be proud of his veteran team for living up to the moment.
Texas A&M’s gift for beating the Gaels? The 10-seed Aggies will now face 2-seed Houston in the Round of 32 for the first time since the 2023-2024 season, where fans remember former star forward Andersson Garcia’s game-tying three-pointer to send the game into overtime, before ultimately falling to the Cougars in one of the more emotional games in program history.
Over the last two meetings, Texas A&M is 0-2 under former head coach Buzz Williams, while McMillan has yet to face Houston in his career. The past does not matter, and if the Aggies continue to play elite defense and hit open threes, this could be a back-and-forth game decided in the final seconds.
Like most of the year, senior forward Rashaun Agee was stellar, leading the game with 22 points and nine rebounds, including three three-pointers, and will continue to be heavily depended on if the Aggies have any shot at making the Sweet 16. On Friday, McMillan, along with Agee and senior guards Pop Isaacs and Rylan Griffen, spoke to the media to preview the second-round matchup.
Rylan Griffen on Rashaun Agee’s impactful play
“He’s been huge. Great leader and player. We all know without him, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. He’s got a great future.”
Pop Isaacs on his improved play
“I’m trying to do the little things that translate to winning. Everything else will take care of itself. I feel like I play my best basketball when we have to win. My teammates have done a great job.”
Rashaun Agee on his firm belief that the Aggies can continue winning
“We have belief in each other and we understand what we came here to do. For a lot of us it’s our last year so we want to win. In order to win, you have to play together. We’re not playing tennis, we’re playing basketball, it’s a team sport that takes everybody.”
Rylan Griffen on Houston’s elite defense
“They really get after you defensively. They have a great reputation of being a great defensive team. We have to make sure we don’t give them free points giving the ball away. We have to match their physicality and play our best ball.”
Agee on hearing from former Texas A&M star guard Alex Caruso after the win
“To hear from him is great. He’s been in our shoes before. He’s had a long career and won a championship here. I know they played here in OKC and made the Sweet 16, so it’s great to hear from him.”
Griffen on Agee being the team’s vocal leader
“That’s unc over here.”
Agee on Texas A&M’s “turning point” after Thursday’s victory
“I feel like our turning point was the first game of the year. We came together, but hit a couple bumps and bruises, and that really brought us together even more.”
Does Rylan Griffen remember Andersson Garcia’s shot?
“I watched it when it happened. It was after one of my games. It was entertaining for sure.”
Bucky McMillan on Houston’s talented roster
“They look like five T-rex’s out there. They’re long, strong, and tough. They brought back three starters from their Final Four team. They’ve got experience so they know what they’re doing and went through a tough league.”
McMillan on Pop Isaacs nearly signing with Houston before choosing the Aggies
“We’re very glad we got him. There was movement on the other side with players coming back from the NBA draft. The biggest deal with Pop is he got fully healthy, is playing hard, and is practicing hard. I don’t think it was fair early in the year for people to expect him to be the player he is when he was injured. He’s had tremendous growth, especially on the defensive end. He’s doing things that win games, so we’re winning more games with him on the floor.”
More praise for Rashaun Agee from his head coach
“He’s got more double doubles in one season than anyone else in A&M history. Who would’ve thought that? I won’t say how tall he actually is because he’ll get mad, but he’s like our Charles Barkley. He brings life to the party.”
McMillan on “Bucky Ball’s” late-season impact
“I’ve gone from AAU to high school to college. Basketball is a tournament sport. You’ve got to be able to win at the end of the season, and we’ve shown that we’re able to do that with what we do.”
McMillan reflects on the season thus far
“When coaches win, everything is great. This team has really been a joy to coach. They’re good people. Not a lot of these players were the key guy on their team at their last stop. They’re able to come together because they stay together when things go wrong. Everybody is usually pretty good to start the season, then everything hits and a team tanks. We never had that because we have people on our team that are about the right things, competitive, and older. They want to win because it’s their last go around and they’ve seen what it takes to win.”
Rashaun Agee’s journey to College Station is quite the story
“Financially he’s got no worries because he’s getting social security right now. I really like JUCO players. Guys who made it from the start don’t have the same appreciation when they get here. Marcus and Rashaun were both JUCO guys and they’re both starters for us. Rashaun has had such a long route to get here and he’s so appreciative. He’s got the team’s best interest at heart and is a very mature person.”
McMillan on his relationship with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson
“I’ve known Coach Sampson from when he was recruiting one of my players at Mountain Brook. When he called me early when he got there, I had no doubt he was going to get it going at Houston. He’s got a culture and you can tell he’s a long term guy. He’s had great success.”
McMillan on if he’s watched Texas A&M’s 2024 NCAA Tournament loss to Houston
“I’ve looked at the score of it, but I didn’t watch the game. I remember it was a high scoring overtime game for two defensive teams. I’ll probably watch it today.”
Winning on Saturday means heading back to Texas for both teams
“I do know the next game is in Houston. So one of us will have home court advantage.”
McMillan praises Alex Caruso, who has stayed connected with the program
“AC is a winner. That’s something you want all your players to strive to be. He’s from College Station. Mitch Cole, Kyle Keller and Darby Rich were with him back then and coaching him, so I’ve heard a million Caruso stories. He was an underdog his whole career. He talked to our team earlier this year about how great players have to have self awareness. He was a star in his role. I want our players to be a star in what they do and have a self awareness in what they can do. Everywhere AC’s gone, he’s been a connector, and that’s what I want from my players.”
McMillan on Houston’s impressive guard rotation
“They’ve got good guard play. They have clarity in what they do. They’re tough. When you get deep in the tournament, there will be good guard play. We were effective in containing St. Mary’s, so we’ve got to be us and let it rock.”
To defeat Houston, a similar performance and avoiding turnovers are key to pulling off the upset
“I thought we played with reckless abandon and a chip on our shoulder. Sometimes in SEC play you get beat down from war every game, and I thought we were fresh. We were great decision makers. We were a low turnover team yesterday, Houston scores a ton off of turnovers. So we’ll have to put it all together again here tomorrow to win.”
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M HC Bucky McMillan, players preview tough Houston matchup