Steps away from Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, a battle for Texas would occur inside the FedEx Forum as the Texas A&M Aggies faced the Houston Cougars. A trip to the Sweet 16 was on the line, and the winner would move on to Dallas for the Sweet 16, and the loser would head back to Texas with a season-ending loss.

Coming into Sunday night’s matchup between the Aggies and Cougars, both coaches knew it would be a rock fight between two robust programs.

As tip rolled around between the Aggies and Cougars, the sense of a heavyweight battle between the two started to fill the grounds of the FedEx Forum.

Texas A&M and Houston exchanged early blows with little space between them. However, a bad scoring half from Wade Taylor on offense secured a 51-42 Houston Cougars lead at the break. Uncommon for him, Wade Taylor finished the first half with a lone point from the free throw line for the Aggies. Tyrece Radford led the Aggies in scoring with 10 points, going 6-13 from the field. Only being behind by five points at the half seemed like a small for the Aggies after shooting 40% from the field during the first half of play.

As the curtain on the second half broke, Houston and Texas A&M exchanged baskets until the under-16 media timeout, when the Cougars held on to a 53-48 lead. From there would be a scoring drought 2:37 for the Aggies, giving the Houston Cougars the door to score 5 out of the last seven baskets to make it 57-48 Houston at the under-12 media timeout. At the under-8 media timeout of the second half, a blown call cost A&M a basket, and Houston held on to a 63-55 lead with 7:51 to play.

As time passed, it became evident that it would take a steep mountain climb for the Aggies to overcome the daunting task of defeating the Houston Cougars. A three from Tyrece Radford would give the Aggies a glimmer of hope with a little over five minutes remaining in the game, chipping at the Houston lead. Despite not scoring a field goal for 3:08, Houston held on to a 69-61 lead over the Aggies with 4:29 to play in the game.

With a little over a minute remaining, Texas A&M made things interesting, cutting the Houston lead to three. Andersson Garcia nails an open three-point shot to send the Texas A&M Aggies to overtime with Houston.

Houston opened overtime with a corner three from Emanuel Sharp to make it 89-86. Following possession, Texas A&M drew a foul on Emanuel Sharp, fouling out the Houston leading scorer with 3:11 remaining in overtime. Radford would nail the two free throws for the Aggies, making it 89-87 in favor of Houston. Unaware of the shot clock situation, Wade Taylor picked up a foul, giving the Cougars three free throws. Snead would make two out of the three, extending the Houston lead to 91-87 with 2:26 left on the clock. A Wade Taylor three-pointer with 58 seconds remaining would cut the Houston lead to 95-93. With 30 seconds on the clock, Houston would turn to Jamal Shead for a mid-range jumper, making it 97-93 in favor of the Cougars.

Ultimately, Texas A&M ran out of time, and the Aggies 2023-2024 season ends in Memphis.

Houston advances to the Sweet 16 in Dallas, where they meet the Duke Blue Devils on Friday night.