Houston vs. Texas A&M: NCAA Tournament Preview and Prediction
Here is everything you need to know about Houston and Texas A&M in our Cougars vs. Aggies NCAA Men’s Tournament second-round preview.
No. 1 Houston (31-4) vs. No. 9 Texas A&M (21-14)
Time, TV: 7:40 p.m. Sunday, TNT
Location: FedEx Forum, Memphis TN
All-time series (Houston leads 52-31): Houston def. Texas A&M, 70-66, on Dec. 16, 2023, in a neutral site game in Houston, Texas.
NCAA Tournament Results: Houston: def. Longwood, 86-46 (first round); Texas A&M: def. Nebraska, 98-83 (first round)
Winner: Advances to the Sweet 16 in the South Region in Dallas, Texas, next week.
Projected starting lineups
Houston: G Jamal Shead, G L.J. Cryer, F Javier Francis, F J’Wan Roberts, G Emanuel Sharp.
Texas A&M: G Wade Taylor IV, G Manny Obaseki, G Tyrece Radford, F Solomon Washington, F Wildens Leveque.
Players to watch
Houston
G Emanuel Sharp
On a team with Big 12 Player of the Year Jamal Shead, along with national champion L.J. Cryer, Sharp doesn’t always get the attention he deserves. But the Aggies will pay plenty of attention to him after he torched them for five 3-pointers and 21 points in their meeting in December. Sharp is the future of the Cougars’ backcourt, and he’s arrived this season, averaging nearly 13 points and shooting 36% from the 3-point line in his second year. He may be seen as the third scoring option right now, but next year he’ll become a bona fide star.
Texas A&M
G Wade Taylor IV
Taylor isn’t the most efficient 3-point shooter in the country. For the season he’s about 33%. But in his past three games he has been filling it up. In his last two games in the SEC Tournament he made six 3-pointers in each game. Then, in the NCAA Tournament opener against Nebraska he dropped in seven 3-pointers as the Aggies scored 98 points. Taylor finished with a team-high 25 points and he scored 30 or more points in those final two SEC Tournament games. Houston knows this all too well. He dropped six 3-pointers on the Cougars in December.
Key storylines
Houston
Houston’s first-round victory over Longwood was a perfect start to what the Cougars hope will be a deep NCAA Tournament run. It was a game Houston controlled from the outset and the Cougars were never particularly threatened. It also allowed the Cougars to give guard Ramon Walker Jr. a soft landing back into game action. Walker was cleared and available to play for Friday’s game after the Cougars thought he might be lost for the season. He played just 13 minutes, but Walker could be a huge addition for the Cougars as depth was a significant concern entering March Madness.
Texas A&M
All coach Buzz Williams does is build programs. He did it at Marquette, he did it at Virginia Tech and he’s doing it at Texas A&M. After two average seasons to start his time in College Station, Williams now has three straight 20-win seasons and has led the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. This time, the Aggies won their first-round game and will now take their shot at securing a Sweet 16 berth for the first time since 2018. Win or lose, Williams is building the Aggies into perennial SEC and NCAA Tournament contenders.
Prediction
Houston 79, Texas A&M 77. These are different teams than the ones that met in December. Expect someone unexpected to be the different in this one, perhaps Houston forward J’Wan Roberts.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
