GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
Texas A&M 87, Vanderbilt 75
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Wade Taylor IV scored 25 points as No. 18 Texas A&M dominated from the opening tip in routing Vanderbilt 87-75 to reach the Aggies' second straight Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game and third overall.
The Aggies (25-8) return to the tournament finals for the second year in a row. They were routed by Tennessee last season in Tampa and lost in overtime to Kentucky in 2016 in Nashville.
Tyrece Radford added 16 points and Julius Marble had 13 for the Aggies, who won their fourth straight.
Vanderbilt (20-14) reached the SEC semifinals for the first time since 2017 and was looking for its first berth in the tournament title game since 2012. That's when the Commodores upset eventual national champion Kentucky.
Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt with 18 points. Jordan Wright had 17, and Ezra Manjon 16.
These sixth-seeded Commodores came in having played the late game each of the past twos, including an 80-73 upset of No. 23 Kentucky to notch the program's first 20-win season since 2014-15.
The quick turnaround took a toll on Vanderbilt, which had won 10 of its last 11 looking for its third SEC Tournament title.
Texas A&M, which beat Vanderbilt 72-66 on Jan. 28 in College Station, forced three turnovers in the first two minutes. The Aggies scored the first seven points and never looked back.
They led 49-25 at halftime, setting a program record for points in the first half at the SEC tourney. The Aggies pushed that to 52-25 on a Taylor jumper with 18:25 to go.
Vanderbilt refused to go away. The Commodores, who had won three straight over Top 25 teams for the first time since 2010-11, fought back with a 21-6 run. Wright capped the run with seven straight, and his free throw with 13:08 pulled the Dores within 58-46.
Taylor scored the next five for the Aggies, who quickly pushed the lead back to 21.
BIG PICTURE
Vanderbilt: The Commodores just couldn't slow down the Aggies, and the 3-point shots that have bailed them out so often this season didn't fall. They were 4 of 12 in the first half and finished 64.3% overall in the second half (18 of 28).
Texas A&M: The Aggies couldn't have shot much better over the first 20 minutes, hitting 69% (20 of 29) overall and 58.3% from 3-point range (7 of 12). They finished 59.6% (31 of 52) for the game.
March 11, 2023
| Vanderbilt | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| C. Smith | F | 27 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 5-6 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| Q. Millora-Brown | F | 24 | 1-1 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| E. Manjon | G | 38 | 6-11 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| T. Lawrence | G | 33 | 8-13 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 18 |
| J. Wright | G | 32 | 6-14 | 4-4 | 1-7 | 1-7 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
| M. Stute | 18 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | |
| P. Lewis | 14 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| T. Thomas | 9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| L. Dort | 5 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Totals | 200 | 28-52 (.538) |
10-15 (.667) |
9-22 (.409) |
4-21 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 18 | 75 | |
| Texas A&M | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| H. Coleman III | F | 30 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| J. Marble | F | 18 | 6-9 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| T. Radford | G | 34 | 5-10 | 4-7 | 2-5 | 3-4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 16 |
| W. Taylor IV | G | 31 | 8-13 | 5-6 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 |
| D. Dennis | G | 26 | 3-7 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 2-7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| A. Garcia | 19 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 1-1 | 2-5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| A. Gordon | 18 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | |
| S. Washington | 12 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| H. Hefner | 11 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| M. Obaseki | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 31-52 (.596) |
15-25 (.600) |
10-19 (.526) |
8-30 | 20 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 87 | |