Texas A&M Falls in Heartbreaking Fashion to Alabama in Second SEC Loss

Two heavyweight programs took it down to the wire.

Texas A&M and Alabama clashed for the first time this season, with both programs knowing it is wide open in the SEC standings. Nate Oats’ unit had enough juice to get a must-win, moving to 15-7 overall with the 100-97 win in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday night.

Junior guard Aden Holloway stole the show with a 20-point night with six rebounds and four assists. Drawing fouls was a notable area that really came back to hurt the Aggies in the second half, when the Crimson Tide found themselves in the bonus, even with three fouls in the first period and numerous in the second half.

Texas A&M vs Alabama Recap

Final from Tuscaloosa pic.twitter.com/xyuf4UVsnp
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) February 5, 2026

After the Aggies only had four trips to the free throw line in the first half and the Crimson Tide only had three fouls through 20 minutes, the second half looked entirely different, where the free throws and fouls seemed to triple.

Both squads were in the bonus, and each team took advantage of it.

North Alabama transfer Jacari Lane, despite having four fouls with under three left, sparked a 6-0 run to tie it up at 91-91 with two clutch free throws followed by two layups by NC State transfer Marcus Hill and forward Rashaun Agee.

Down the stretch, A&M’s defense was aggressive, but kept drawing the whistle where Holloway muscled in a layup after his teammate, Latrell Wrightsell, made a huge 3-pointer to extend the lead to four points.

Hill quickly sprinted his way down the lane for an easy layup to get within two, where Alabama was forced to inbound the ball with 15 seconds left. During that time span, Alabama wasted 9.9 seconds of the clock, and an extremely fortunate sequence resulted in a jump ball with the possession arrow in the Tide's favor.

The Aggies fouled forward Amari Allen, who went to the charity stripe, where he missed his first but made his second to extend the lead to three. Agee was fouled with three seconds left, and he missed both free throws, but the basketball was tipped up in the air and into the hands of the former Crimson Tide player, Rylan Griffen, who took a desperation shot from the wing, but he missed it after it scratched the iron.

Oats nearly hurt his team with a costly technical foul that the referee had enough of to send Griffen to the free-throw line, where he connected on both shots to swing the game for A&M after trailing by one point.

Ultimately, the Crimson Tide’s 8-0 run with under six minutes left to go was part of the Aggies' downfall late, and free throws played a factor in the loss. The Aggies sent the Crimson Tide to the line 32 times, with 22 of the attempts made throughout the game, but it was successful at getting to the charity stripe as well, finishing with 20 makes off 28 attempts.

Hill heated up quickly, making the Aggies' first field goal of the first half from behind the arc, contributing to a big opening period with double digits. From the field, he started 4 of 8 from the field, making 2 of his 3 shots from downtown, and even earned a couple of trips to the charity stripe with four boards.

Defensively, the Aggies struggled to stop forward London Jemison, who also had a 10-piece at intermission, going 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from three.

There were several runs that extended the lead for both programs, where the Crimson Tide took its largest lead of the first half, up by nine, while the Aggies produced a 10-0 run to grab a six-point lead.

Alabama went on a 12-2 run where guards Labaron Philon and Latrell Wrightsell canned a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer before Jemison fired the crowd up by muscling up an easy layup and slamming home a dunk.

Forward Jamie Vinson answered with back-to-back dunks before guards Rylan Griffen and Zach Clemence had their first 3-pointers of the evening to take the lead back.

After Holloway drew a pair of trips to the line, A&M went on a 7-0 run and took its biggest lead at 40-34 before Alabama came rolling back with three free throws and a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie it up at 46, going to the locker room.

The Aggies were 9 of 20 from three going into the second period, shooting 53 percent from the field and winning the points in the paint, defensive rebound, and assists categories. Concluding the game, they made 32 of their 65 field goals with 13 3-pointers canned after making only four in the second half.

With the hard-fought loss, the Maroon and White fell to 17-5 overall.