Texas A&M nearly shocked the college basketball world on Sunday night. For a moment, Andersson Garcia actually did.
Garcia’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer capped a furious Aggies comeback against No. 1 Houston, forcing overtime, only for the Cougars to rally and avoid the upset in the extra period without two of their top scorers.
While the shot didn’t result in a win, it jolted life back into a game that most likely assumed would easily go into the win column for Houston. The Cougars led throughout the second half, pulling ahead by as much as 13 in the final minutes. Kelvin Sampson teams don’t typically blow those types of leads, if any at all, but nothing is off the table in March.
Here’s the video of Garcia’s buzzer-beater and a look at what went into Texas A&M’s wild comeback.
TSN’s MARCH MADNESS HQ:
Live NCAA bracket news | TV schedule | Predictor tool
Texas A&M buzzer-beater vs. Houston
Texas A&M will be on a flight home Monday morning. When the dust settles, however, Garcia will have quite a moment to be proud of.
The Aggies took two shots at a game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds, missing the second badly, but they got a third chance when the ball went out of bounds off of Houston. With 1.2 seconds left, Tyrece Radford brilliantly bounced the ball up the middle to Garcia, who fell to the court as he drilled the tying shot at the buzzer.
OH. MY. WORD.@AGGIEMBK TIES IT AT THE BUZZER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/LKTXB3kGcq
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 25, 2024
It was an unbelievable sequence, one that arguably left Texas A&M with the advantage entering overtime knowing Houston standout L.J. Cryer had fouled out and Emanuel Sharp was one foul away from the same fate.
It wasn’t meant to be for the Aggies, as Houston still made clutch shots and played smart basketball in overtime even as starter after starter fouled out. The Cougars prevailed, 100-95, to set up a Sweet 16 matchup with Duke.
MORE: Why Jim Nantz is cheering on Houston
College basketball fans might be thinking the Aggies’ comeback looked familiar. It did. Texas A&M made up a 12-point deficit in less than 44 seconds against Northern Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament eight years ago, turning a quiet game into a thriller.
Nothing about this year’s Texas A&M team is the same as it was in 2016, but the Aggies similarly overcame a 10-point deficit in 80 seconds on Sunday just when it looked like Houston had all but secured a Sweet 16 bid.
It took excellent shot-making, including a 3-pointer and three clutch free throws by Wade Taylor IV, to trim the deficit in the final minutes. A key defensive stop on a layup attempt by Jamal Shead proved to be pivotal, as well. The effort wasn’t perfect — the two 3-point tries before Garcia’s were certainly not what Buzz Williams wanted — but it was enough to miraculously extend the game.
In the end, the Cougars got the result they wanted, and perhaps that kind of battle is one that will benefit Kelvin Sampson’s team going forward.