Texas A&M rolling toward NCAA tourney after 4-year absence

The Aggies haven’t lost since December 5, and their winning streak is their longest since the team won 13 consecutive from November 26, 2010 to January 15, 2011.

During the second half of No. 10 Texas A&M’s 71-57 win over LSU on Tuesday, Texas A&M freshman Grant Betz drilled a half-court heave to win $5,000. The pivotal point occurred when Victor picked up his fourth foul at the 16:53 mark in the second half and A&M holding a 43-42 lead.

Central Arkansas (2-13, 1-4 Southland Conference) committed 24 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, in a loss to Houston Baptist (11-7, 6-0) on Tuesday night at the Farris Center in Conway.

Simmons did have a game-high 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals, but LSU never could recover after Victor went out. What helped the Aggies down the Georgia Bulldogs by a 34-point margin was balanced scoring from the entire roster. They are 1-3 in road games, and 0-2 when playing at a neutral site.

“They don’t have a weakness”, Fox said, via the Houston Chronicle.

LSU kept the game close in the first half and led by six points.

“I didn’t think we hit on all cylinders, didn’t think we played our best, but we were able to get a victory against a very tough opponent”, coach Johnny Jones said. A 15-3 conference record should be good enough to claim the top seed in the SEC tournament, and Billy Kennedy has this team one-third of the way there.

Jalen Jones was 9-of-14 from the field and Davis was 7-of-9 as Texas A&M shot 48.3 percent for the game on a 28-of-58 shooting night.

Tim Quarterman scored twelve points to lead LSU.

The duo has brought two additional threats to an offense that leads the SEC in field goal percentage (47.5) and ranks second in scoring (82.8 points per game).

Simmons, who is perhaps the most-heralded freshman in the country, entered the game averaging 20 points but was held to 10 points with 11 rebounds and Craig Victor added 10 points while dealing with foul trouble most of the game.

One day after cracking the top 10 in the AP poll for the first time since 2009, Texas A&M gave a performance worthy of its lofty ranking.