Texas A&M Adds Much-Needed Win To NCAA Tournament Resume vs. Kentucky

It might be a dance party soon because with T exas A&M’s win over Kentucky at home, the path to the NCAA Tournament is looking a lot brighter and clearer for head coach Bucky McMillan's team to go dancing.

Going into the night, the Aggies were clearly a bubble team with one thing in mind: securing a victory and getting back on the right track with one game left in the regular season before heading to Nashville for the SEC Tournament.

A trip there begins to look slightly more comfortable after getting the offense and defense on the right page. Kentucky’s offense was led by guard Otega Oweh, who was only one of the several players that generated a solid day of offense with 24 points but was no threat compared to what the duo of forward Zach Clemence along with guard Ruben Dominguez and Rylan Griffen were able to do on the floor who accounted for 12 made threes and combined a total of 51 points.

Aggies vs Wildcats Recap

Big Aggie Nation 😤#GigEm | #BuckyBall pic.twitter.com/MxWwPyDA4Y
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 4, 2026

Eventually, the Aggies were going to wake up from a sloppy month of basketball. It is a new month, which means it’s March, when the intensity of basketball picks up, and the opportunities to pick up wins are limited, with the regular season coming to a close and the SEC Tournament coming up shortly.

A&M knew exactly what was on the line, but opened up the first half not playing like it after trailing as many as 12 points, but eventually cleaned up its act and posted its remarkable runs of the season in the last game of the season at Reed Arena.

After the Aggies’ defense suffered an ugly stretch where nothing seemed to be going right inside, it turned around within the blink of an eye, with Dominguez finding his groove after not being his typical self around the perimeter. No one would have been able to notice as his drained four 3-pointers heading to the locker room proved to be one of the biggest differences when the offense went on a 27-2 run to energize the 12th Man.

Yes, there were obstacles throughout the first half with Kentucky getting three of its core players going. Guard Denzel Aberdeen and Oweh, along with forward Brandon Garrison, all had six points going to the break but were fortunate to be within striking distance, down 45-33 at the half. A&M wrapped up the first by shooting 45 percent from the field and 35 percent from three to have momentum coming out of the tunnel.

Coming out of the halftime discussion, the Aggies came out firing with a 7-0 run sparked by Clemence sinking back-to-back threes with guard Marcus Hill hitting one of his free throws. Oweh proceeded to register nine of 12 of the Wildcats next points with a pair of trips to the charity stripe and burying a couple of shots from beyond the arc before Griffen scored the next nine points with two 3-pointers.

Forward Mouhamed Dioubate later muscled in two layups before the Oweh slam put Kentucky on a 6-0 run to give head coach Mark Pope's team a little gas left in the tank to keep punching back with eight minutes left.

With under five minutes to go on the clock, the Wildcats got to within 13 points with six straight points courtesy of Dioubate before Oweh applied some pressure with a dunk to cut the deficit to 11. A 7-0 run in 47 seconds with under two minutes left the game open, but the Aggies were able to respond properly at the line to send the Wildcats home packing back to Lexington.

On the night, A&M shot 48 percent from the field, 46 percent from deep, and 69 percent from the line. To close the regular season out, A&M travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on LSU.