Bucky McMillan praises team for win over Oklahoma: ‘We had to have it’
Published:
With its back against the wall this past week, Texas A&M came up with a pair of wins that it had to have in order to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive and well.
The Aggies began by pulling off a miraculous comeback in an 80-77 victory over Ole Miss on Wednesday, and they followed that up with a fairly comfortable 75-71 road win over Oklahoma on Saturday. The results halted a 4-game losing streak for TAMU, and head coach Bucky McMillan appears to be relieved that his team is not flirting with the NCAA Tournament bubble as much as it was prior.
A first-year head coach in College Station after coming over from Samford, McMillan explained after the OU game that his team has already adopted a postseason mindset in these last weeks of February.
“I told our team before the Ole Miss game that our NCAA Tournament starts now. Teams that want to play in the tournament win games like these,” McMillan said. “We had to have it. We’ve won in different ways down the stretch. Today it was our defense.”
McMillan & Co. will look at to build off their gained momentum when they visit Fayetteville for a date with Arkansas on Wednesday, a game that will go a long way in determining who receives a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
And that’s not the only potentially rĂ©sumĂ©-boosting contest left on the Aggies’ schedule, as fellow bubble contender Texas will visit town next Saturday before TAMU faces Kentucky (home) and LSU (road) the following week.
As it currently stands, Texas A&M has an 80% chance to reach the postseason per Kalshi. Here’s a look at the latest odds for other SEC bubble teams.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
