Aggies fall just short of NIT Title

It looked for much of the game that Texas A&M had what it took to take home the NIT title, but a Xavier bucket with just seconds remaining (and some questionable officiating throughout) proved to be the difference as the Aggies’ final shot barely missed, falling to the Musketeers 73-72.

Senior Quenton Jackson led the way for the Aggies with 23 points, followed by 15 from junior Tyrece Radford.

The Aggies won 7 of their last 8 games to close out the regular season, including beating two ranked opponents en route to the SEC Tournament championship game. That apparently wasn’t enough to avoid an NCAA Tournament snub, and it would have been understandable if the team was less than motivated after missing out on The Big Dance. But instead, A&M has continued to prove in the games since just how deserving this team was, winning their first four NIT games by an average of 14.5 points. Despite tonight’s loss, the NIT performance served as a great a sendoff for the outgoing seniors, and builds serious momentum for a program that was desperate for some positive developments coming into year three of the Buzz Williams era.