COLLEGE STATION, Texas — From the moment Texas A&M stepped on the floor Saturday afternoon, their energy was palpable as they readied to host No. 6 Kentucky, still searching for their first SEC win of the year. That same energy was there from the opening tip through the final seconds of overtime as the Aggies pulled off the upset and took down the 6th ranked Wildcats 97-92.
That's one of the things we talked about,” junior guard Wade Taylor IV said. “We would always start off high energy, it would kind of die down. So at half time, I told the team, ‘let's just come out again and just continue to fight how we've been fighting.’ I think our energy, us and the 12th Man kind of overwhelmed them a little bit down the line and I think that helped us get the win.”
The offense has been struggling the last two games but boy did it get going today. The 97 points scored were the second-most points scored in the Buzz Williams era and the most scored against an SEC opponent since joining the conference. Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford led the way scoring 31 and 28 respectively.
We just tell each other to keep shooting,” Radford said. Not just us two, just everybody that shoots the ball honestly. Every night is not going to be your night, but one thing that carries over, that the coaches, harp on is our defense. So we just continue to play, just continue to hoop.”
The Aggies also welcomed back sophomore forward, Solomon Washington, who’s missed the last two games due to injury and he made an immediate impact back in the rotation.
“I thought his energy was tremendous,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “His length, he can guard a perimeter player. All of their perimeter players are bigger, faster, stronger than ours, but at least, when he's [Washington] on you, it's a push. He can guard whoever you want him to guard and then he has a presence at the rim on both sides.”
This win also marks the Maroon and White’s first win against the Wildcats since 2018 and Williams' first career win against Kentucky.
“Nobody that's here has won against Kentucky since anybody’s been here,” Taylor IV said. “So today was another stepping stone that we made.”
The Aggies will look to use this momentum as they head back on the road to take on Arkansas Tuesday night before their rematch against LSU in Baton Rouge. Tip-off in Fayetteville is set for 8pm on SEC Network.