Aggies fall to Vols in SEC Final, await NCAA Tournament fate

In search of their first conference tournament title since 1987, Texas A&M fell short against the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Tournament final on Sunday afternoon, losing 65-50 at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

The Aggies got out to a sluggish start, allowing Tennessee to run out to a 12-0 lead to begin the game. Despite A&M going 0-10 from beyond the arc in the first half, they cut that lead to nine at the break, and down to just five early in the second half. But Tennessee’s size advantage, three-point shooting and defensive pressure proved to be too much to overcome for a team playing it’s fourth game in four days.

Despite today’s result, it has been an incredibly improbable run of success for the Aggies that began one month ago. After losing 8 straight games and their postseason hopes seemingly left for dead, the Aggies proceeded to win eight of nine games, including three games over ranked opponents (Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas).

The Aggies will now anxiously await tonight’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show to see if their strong play over the past month has earned them a spot in the Big Dance. Most pundits, including ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm, had the Aggies in heading into selection Sunday, but that can change if upsets happen in conference tournament championship games. The selection show begins at 6 p.m. CT on CBS.