Jabari Smith, No. 4 Auburn Lose to Unranked Texas A&M in SEC Tournament Upset

In a result that could have NCAA tournament implications, Texas A&M upset No. 4 Auburn 67-62 in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament.

Before the game, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller projected the Tigers to be the top team in the East region, with the Aggies as his fifth team out.

Auburn can almost certainly kiss any chance at a No. 1 seed goodbye now, with Miller putting Bruce Pearl’s squad No. 2 in the Midwest. On the other side, A&M—now the first team out—might be inching its way toward the field of 68.

In the second round of the conference tourney, Texas A&M led Florida by as many as 16 points and was up by 10 with three minutes left. The Gators stormed back to force overtime.

It was the same story for the Aggies on Friday. They were ahead 37-21 at halftime and saw their lead swell to 20 points at the 11:16 mark of the second half. Then things started to unravel.

With a three-pointer from Wendell Green Jr., Auburn was behind by just nine, 58-49, with 4:44 on the clock.

A pair of free throws by Quenton Jackson gave Texas A&M some breathing room, only for Green to deliver back-to-back treys. The sophomore guard wasn’t lacking in confidence down the stretch.

Still, time was working against Auburn. Jabari Smith’s three-pointer trimmed the deficit to four, 62-58, with 39 seconds remaining. The Tigers had to foul, though, and Jackson nailed two critical free throws to effectively put the final nail in Auburn’s coffin.

Jackson, who finished with 17 points, was A&M’s best player late in the second half and delivered on both ends of the court.

Tyrece Radford had a game-high 19 points as well, while Henry Coleman III posted a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds).

For Auburn, this could be the kind of result that proves beneficial by refocusing everybody ahead of the NCAA tournament. 

Smith nearly had a double-double (17 points, nine rebounds) but couldn’t find his shooting stroke as he finished 5-of-16. K.D. Johnson was held scoreless after missing all 14 of his shot attempts. The Tigers as a team shot 9-of-36 from beyond the arc.

With Friday’s win, the Aggies now await the winner of LSU vs. Arkansas to learn of their semifinal opponent.