The Texas Longhorns might have saved their season, and in dramatic fashion, against an old foe Thursday.
Tre Johnson made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:08 left in the second overtime and the Longhorns extended their first visit to the Southeastern Conference Tournament by beating No. 14 Texas A&M 94-89 to reach the quarterfinals.
The Longhorns were a bubble team heading into this intrastate showdown and were listed as one of FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy‘s first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas went just 17-14 (6-12 in the SEC) during the regular season, coming in 13th place in a tough conference. But after two straight victories in the SEC Tournament, including a 79-72 win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday, the Longhorns have a strong case to make the field of 68.
A few other teams on the bubble — Indiana, Wake Forest, Xavier and San Diego State— lost Thursday.
Texas, now 19-14, will face No. 4 seed and eighth-ranked Tennessee on Friday.
Johnson finished with 20 points. Tramon Mark had 15, Kadin Shedrick added 14 and Jordan Pope had 13 for Texas.
Mark’s short jumper hit off the rim just before the buzzer to force overtime and a thrilling finish.
Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies (22-10) with 29 points and was 17-for-18 at the free-throw line, becoming the SEC’s career tournament scoring leader. Manny Obaseki had 17 before fouling out. Andersson Garcia added 13 and Henry Coleman III had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Takeaways
Texas: The Longhorns came to Nashville having lost four of their last five, trying to stay on the tournament bubble and likely needing wins to save coach Rodney Terry’s job. This should help now they’ve won two of their last three.
Texas A&M: The Aggies are an SEC-best 7-3 over the past three SEC tourneys, reaching the 2022 and 2023 finals. They lost in the semifinals last year. Five Aggies have played nine or more SEC Tournament games, led by Hayden Hefner in his fifth year.
Key moment
Shedrick’s dunk with 4.6 seconds left in the first overtime forced another five minutes of play for Texas.
Key stat
Texas A&M missed seven of its last eight shots in the second overtime.
Up next
The Longhorns lost to Tennessee by four in January. The Aggies now wait for their NCAA Tournament slot.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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