Here's Why Texas A&M's Win vs. Auburn Was Its Biggest Yet

Never ever turn the television off when a team is losing.

Texas A&M basketball proved why that is the case after trailing as many as 16 points versus Auburn. The defense didn’t show up much in the first half. It did along with the offense in the second half as coach Bucky McMillan’s squad found a way to escape Neville Arena in one of the most controversial calls in the entire season.

Was the shot off in time? No. Did the Tigers’ side agree? Not at all. However, it didn’t matter because the Aggies made enough plays down the stretch, and the Tigers didn’t do that.

Whether you agree with it or not, A&M played a better game than Auburn because it believed it could make enough shots even after a rough first half, when Auburn ended on a 9-0 run, but A&M had a few tricks up its sleeves. It was called being sneaky on defense.

Sneaky Steals

The jungle has been silenced 🔕 pic.twitter.com/fkfvRhbiXN
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 7, 2026

When the coaches see something they think will work, they’ll tell their guys and see if it does. In the opening 3:22, the Aggies showed how its defense, despite not having the size it would like after losing forward Mackenzie Mgbako, could swipe the ball away and make something of nothing.

Those opening three and a half minutes might not be mentioned by a ton of fans, but shouldn’t be overlooked as the four steals gave A&M an upper hand, where it went on a 7-0 run to jump out to a 9-3 lead after giving Auburn its first lead, 3-2.

There were two clutch moments by Rylan Griffen to snag a few steals at the 19:04 and 18:14 mark of the game to set up the first momentum swing of the evening. USC transfer forward Rashaun Agee and NC State guard Marcus Hill also had good hands to force four of the 13 turnovers that Auburn had.

Later in the second half, the 12:59 point kicked off “The Jungle” party at Neville Arena when North Alabama transfer guard Jacari Lane, Southern Illinois transfer Ali Dibba and Texas Tech transfer Federiko Federiko set the ton for rest of the game when the five steals up until the 6:55 mark really produced confidence that A&M had enough gas to get back home to Aggieland with a win.

A held ball with two seconds left, with the possession arrow in favor of the Aggies, possibly saved the game because without maintaining that arrow pointing in its direction, the Tigers were on their side of the court with the ball to tie the game, trailing 90-88. Instead, the free throws set up a long shot that was hard to tell in the blink of an eye, whether it was going to count or not.

Fortunately for the 12th Man, the defense prevented Auburn from ending the night on a miraculous three, which resulted in an answered prayer for the 12th Man after there was enough evidence to show the last shot that was originally thought to count with 0.1 was called off.