Aggies Mauled by Penn State in Blowout Loss at March Madness
DES MOINES, IOWA - A year after being denied from what they felt was a well-deserved berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Texas A&M Aggies entered Thursday's matchup at Wells Fargo Arena in the Round of 64 against the Penn State Nittany Lions with high aspirations.
But despite a season that saw them finish with the most conference wins in school history, the seventh-seeded Aggies found themselves on the wrong end of a 76-59 March Madness mauling against 10th-seeded Penn State.
A&M was doomed by its inefficient 33.9-percent shooting night, which felt even worse considering the Nittany Lions were scorching from behind the arc.
Penn State went 13 of 22 from deep and was led by guard Andrew Funk, who paced all scorers with 27 points on 8 of 10 shooting from 3-point land. All-American guard Jalen Pickett added 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
The Aggies were led by Dexter Dennis (19 points, eight rebounds), Tyrece Radford (14 points) and Wade Taylor IV (10 points).
The two teams went back and forth in the opening minutes, as the Aggies led 12-11 with about 11 minutes left in the first half.
But this ended up being their final lead of the game.
While the Aggies scored just three points over the next eight minutes and change, the Nittany Lions flipped the game on its head behind stellar shooting from all around. Penn State put together a 9-0 run to take a 27-15 lead, which was ballooned to 16 a few minutes later.
A&M headed into halftime down 38-22, but hope was far from gone.
But the Aggies didn't show that this was the mindset. Five more triples for Penn State in the first eight minutes of the second half was the product rotational defense for an A&M team that looked defeated.
With such a huge lead, Penn State was able to cruise throughout a second half that lacked any sort of thrills. The Aggies were never able to mount any semblance of a comeback, as the Nittany Lions continued to stay hot from beyond the arc.
As 11 p.m. central time approached, fans started leaving Wells Fargo Arena way earlier than expected for a game that was supposed to be one of the best on the opening day of the Round of 64.
The Aggies will now taste an embarrassing loss in their mouths headed into what is fixing to be a long offseason.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
Subscribe to the Texas A&M Aggies Daily Blitz Podcast!
Follow AllAggies.com on Facebook and Twitter!
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Aggies? Click Here to Subscribe to the All Aggies Newsletter
Want even more Texas A&M Aggies News? Check out the SI.com team page here