I think we can beat Houston,, but its going to take more than just a couple of guys showing up.

What is it going to take to:

Keep Pop playing at or above the level he's played at the last few games?

Get Clemence hot from 3 and confident posting up again?

Get Griffen to show up and put forth a physical effort the whole game?

Get Ruben to contribute in the second half?

Get Jacari confident and aggressive again?

Get Hill attacking the rim and finishing ?

I dont think we need all of that to beat Houston, but we need more than 3 guys to show up.

Agee needs to keep being the dog. Dadgumit if Griffen needs to get his #&# together. Ali needs to play like he typically does. Vincent needs to give good minutes while Agee rests, and some other wings need to play like early SEC form!

Hope Bucky can find a way!

Hot start! Put the pressure on them. They're the favorites on a revenge tour for how their season ended last year… they may be looking ahead. If we can get out to a hot start and frustrate them early, the pressure will be on them. We can play free, fast, and just let the shots fly!

You would think the air quality in Houston would have a deleterious effect on them… OKC is a breath of fresh air though.

If you listened to Bucky post game- it will take onky one thing:

Every player playing every play weith maximum effort- leaving NOTHING behind. From defense, to rebounding, to taking care of the ball, to beating their man whether on O or D. Tourney ball is different.

"No Regrets" is the theme. Leaave the court at the end of the game with no regrets of any play you didn't go all out.

Going to take a crazy effort + insane shooting on our side.

Nice assessment, Jeremy. As always, I love your passion for Aggie basketball. I agree that it will take a team effort to keep the game close and then a clutch play, maybe a 3 by Dominguez or a driving layup by Hill, to pull off the upset at the end.

I found a couple articles about how we can win. Nothing surprising but interesting reading leading up to the game.

https://www.si.com/college/tamu/basketball/texas-am-vs-houston-tactical-breakdown-3-ways-the-aggies-can-beat-the-cougars

https://www.si.com/college/tamu/basketball/why-texas-am-will-upset-houston-in-the-ncaa-tournament

one of the top backcourts in the tourney, but we did go toe to toe with full strength Bama without anything from Dominguez

I do love it and want everyone else to love it, too!!

You have to start fast on houston and make them play from behind.

One Eyed Reveille said:

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Scoring more than them.

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100% guarantee we win if we do this!

It will take our best performance of the season. Other than FL, UH is by far the best team we have faced all season. Need to make 14+ 3P.

Divining Rod said:

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If you listened to Bucky post game- it will take onky one thing:

Every player playing every play weith maximum effort- leaving NOTHING behind. From defense, to rebounding, to taking care of the ball, to beating their man whether on O or D. Tourney ball is different.

"No Regrets" is the theme. Leaave the court at the end of the game with no regrets of any play you didn't go all out.

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This is it right here.

Oh, and hit your threes!

I watched Houston play Idaho and their half court defense is INCREDIBLY strong

We gotta be on top of transition 3s and buckets - the longer we give them to set up the harder it's gonna be to in a flow on offense

We need a 20 point performance from Hill driving fast like a bat out of hell

chicknfingrboi said:

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I watched Houston play Idaho and their half court defense is INCREDIBLY strong

We gotta be on top of transition 3s and buckets - the longer we give them to set up the harder it's gonna be to in a flow on offense

We need a 20 point performance from Hill driving fast like a bat out of hell

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I agree we need to get more transition threes up.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7132351/2026/03/21/ncaa-tournament-second-round-upsets-most-likely/

from nyt athletic

Quote:

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No. 2 Houston Cougars vs. No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies
Upset chance: 24 percent
Texas A&M is yet another one of the "wounded assassins" that we warned could be the most dangerous underdogs in this year's tournament. Year after year, power conference teams get beaten up in league play, land a double-digit seed, then make a run in March. And the Aggies have enough firepower to consider the possibility of joining that club.
As devotees of Bucky Ball, they launch tons of 3-pointers 46.2 percent of their shots to be exact. That introduces some critically important variance against a stout defensive team like Houston. Three of the seven most similar games in our model's database also ended in upsets.
That said, the Cougars are masters of the possession game, particularly when it comes to turnovers (13 percent rate on offense; 21 percent on defense). And they are about 15.4 points per 100 possessions better than the Aggies, according to Slingshot's power ratings. Still, the Aggies have a shooter's chance, and as a No. 10 seed against a No. 2, that's all you can ask for.

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nyt giving us 24% chance of beating Houston...cue up that dumb and dumber...meme

seriously, we can beat them... If the rest of the team has to play better than Thursday and Agee remain dominant
also Houston gets whatever duke had in their first round would be good.

jeremy said:

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I think we can beat Houston,, but its going to take more than just a couple of guys showing up.

What is it going to take to:

Keep Pop playing at or above the level he's played at the last few games?

Get Clemence hot from 3 and confident posting up again?

Get Griffen to show up and put forth a physical effort the whole game?

Get Ruben to contribute in the second half?

Get Jacari confident and aggressive again?

Get Hill attacking the rim and finishing ?

I dont think we need all of that to beat Houston, but we need more than 3 guys to show up.

Agee needs to keep being the dog. Dadgumit if Griffen needs to get his #&# together. Ali needs to play like he typically does. Vincent needs to give good minutes while Agee rests, and some other wings need to play like early SEC form!

Hope Bucky can find a way!

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I'll have what OPs having…seems like good stuff.

Play like we did the first 10 minutes against FL BUT actually make our shots. I think that Bama loss really took a mental toll on our players that led to the abysmal shooting percentage in the FL game.

OKC~Ag said:

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https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7132351/2026/03/21/ncaa-tournament-second-round-upsets-most-likely/

from nyt athletic

Quote:

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No. 2 Houston Cougars vs. No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies
Upset chance: 24 percent
Texas A&M is yet another one of the "wounded assassins" that we warned could be the most dangerous underdogs in this year's tournament. Year after year, power conference teams get beaten up in league play, land a double-digit seed, then make a run in March. And the Aggies have enough firepower to consider the possibility of joining that club.
As devotees of Bucky Ball, they launch tons of 3-pointers 46.2 percent of their shots to be exact. That introduces some critically important variance against a stout defensive team like Houston. Three of the seven most similar games in our model's database also ended in upsets.
That said, the Cougars are masters of the possession game, particularly when it comes to turnovers (13 percent rate on offense; 21 percent on defense). And they are about 15.4 points per 100 possessions better than the Aggies, according to Slingshot's power ratings. Still, the Aggies have a shooter's chance, and as a No. 10 seed against a No. 2, that's all you can ask for.

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nyt giving us 24% chance of beating Houston...cue up that dumb and dumber...meme

seriously, we can beat them... If the rest of the team has to play better than Thursday and Agee remain dominant
also Houston gets whatever duke had in their first round would be good.

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I don't think that's unreasonable. It's not saying we have no chance at all, just that realistically we have to shoot lights out on 3s during the limited number of possessions the Coog defense is likely to give us. I'd say our chances are more in the 33.3% range but that's really not bad odds going against a very talented team like UH that isn't going to look past us because they desperately want a win over A&M even if we are the lower seed because of their Tech like inferiority complex and desperate desire to be seen as equal to us and sip.

Maroon Dawn said:

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UH that isn't going to look past us because they desperately want a win over A&M even if we are the lower seed because of their Tech like inferiority complex and desperate desire to be seen as equal to us and sip.

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Don't confuse alumni with players. UH players have had way more on the court success and were higher ranked recruits than most (maybe all?) players on our or tu's roster. They won't look past us because they are focused on winning a national championship. The fact that "A&M" is on our jersey's won't make any difference.

8-9 winner plays 1
7-10 winner plays 2
6-11 winner plays 3
5-12 plays 4 all assuming chalk holds.

By the round of 32 the teams that looked strongest tend to be the winners with the potential less consistent 4s.

Houston has earned its 2 and will be a tough game. They likely will give us fits and I expect our press won't faze them and they end up in transition more often. They might even have more orebs than our drebs.

We need to smash them in the face early then hold the cougar by the proverbial tail even if that's normally a tiger.

We can and should still hope for a win.

taylorswift13_ said:

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Hot start! Put the pressure on them. They're the favorites on a revenge tour for how their season ended last year… they may be looking ahead. If we can get out to a hot start and frustrate them early, the pressure will be on them. We can play free, fast, and just let the shots fly!

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I disagree. Lets NOT get a big lead early as it will just focus them into beating us with their talent.

I envision the Ags just keeping up. Not letting them get more than single digits ahead or Ags up by a basket or two... and then, in the final 8 minutes of the game, Aggies go on one of their patented 12-0 runs fueled by a couple of turnovers and timely three-point shooting.

Then, we hang on and MAKE OUR FOUL SHOTS plus a few more timely three-pointers as Houston tries to come back but fails in the end as their stars begin to foul out.

Aggies 84-82!!!

BTHO Houston!!!

Lock up their guards.

Our style of defense against elite guard play will be interesting.

They ISO Kingston a lot and get him going downhill.

His ability to shoot, pass, or finish at the rim is why he's a top #5 pick right now.

We need to shoot the 3 at a high clip and rebound.

We need to shoot the ball. Reuben and Riley need to stop hesitating coming off screens, especially Reuben. SHOOT THE 3.

Heart, miles and miles of heart

How about Federiko Federiko

Ghost of Bisbee said:

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How about Federiko Federiko

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Double double from Fede to lead us to a win would be hilarious

Here for it lol

I'm just coming back to ask what kind of booze OP had when he did this analysis….I want some of that.

Next year we will have a better chance.