Texas A&M Suffers First Conference Road Loss To Tennessee In Double Overtime

Texas A&M travelled to No. 25 Tennessee on a night when they knew what was on the line: a chance to earn a Quadrant 1 win against a ranked team.

It took two overtime periods to crown a winner, but the Aggies were unable to close out a difficult road matchup against the Volunteers after having the lead late in the second half.

Coach Bucky McMillan had his squad ready to go against a team coached by Rick Barnes, where there were a ton of players that were involved heavily in both periods before going into overtime, with guard Jacari Lane leading the Aggies on offense with 20 points and three rebounds, but the Volunteers had enough fuel to extend the game.

The late lead wasn’t enough offensively and defensively for A&M to stop the superhero of the night for Tennessee, which was Nate Ament, who sparked the offense to walk away satisfied with an 87-82 win.

Aggies vs Volunteers Recap

Final at No. 24 Tennessee pic.twitter.com/lwcPkYDKS5
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 14, 2026

Both fanbases were biting their nails after a wild last minute of regulation, after a crazy event of sequences saw a couple of interesting plays where A&M had a coaching challenge left and used it to see if the ball was originally out of bounds on Tennessee with ten seconds left, and the referees determined after review that it was Tennessee ball.

Luckily, the Aggies were able to get a massive defensive stop with the clock expiring, sending the game to overtime tied at 71.

Then, it got even uglier, shooting for A&M and Tennessee in the third period as there weren't enough buckets made. Plenty of chances arose to bury a shot, but both defenses were very physical and intense to stop that from happening. In the first overtime, there was only one shot made by both teams and two free throws, as neither team budged until the final period.

The Volunteers found a way to get their freshman going, who carried his team to the finish line with 23 points, as Ament finished with six of the final 12 points registered.

For the Aggies, they were without Zach Clemence, Rylan Griffen, and Rashaun Agee, who fouled out and were unable to help out much of the second overtime. Primarily, it was the guards Pop Isaacs and Lane that battled through the fatigue, but didn’t have enough answers along with the rest of the team to get enough stops.

A&M went 36 percent from the field, 13 of 43 from downtown, and made 21 free throws as the Volunteers were similar, going 37 percent from the field, but won the rebound battle 60 to 35.

Despite the Aggies' size being a little smaller than the Volunteers', they stuck through the adversity and made it a tight game in the final minutes after creating several turnovers.

With a 34-30 lead at halftime, both teams shot poorly from the field but woke up, and it was both teams that had momentum. In the first half, A&M had an 11-point lead, its biggest advantage coming when Tennessee missed over 10 straight shots.

Not often does a team coached by Barnes go nearly half of the first period without a 3-pointer, but that is what happened under the intense pressure of the Aggies’ defense.

Even though the Volunteers struggled early in the shooting, they outmuscled the Aggies down the stretch and found a way to win with only six 3-pointers.