Both head coaches — and most of the Texas A&M men’s basketball roster — may be new to the Lone Star Showdown, but that didn’t mean things weren’t intense at the Moody Center in Austin.
But as the rivalry game shifted from a battle in the paint to an artillery war between sharpshooting guards — and with the trademark Moody Center light show flaring — the Aggies proved they weren’t outgunned or outmanned despite their size disadvantage. To the joy of the traveling 12th Man, A&M made a senior guard Rylan Griffen-powered second-half stand.
RYLAN GRIFFEN SO FAR
17 PTS
6-7 FG
4-5 3FG pic.twitter.com/0N23nslZZG
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 18, 2026
“Rylan is a Texas kid, you know,” head coach Bucky McMillan said. “He probably knows what this game is, a game that he’s probably grown up watching. And obviously he played great in the game.”
After being held scoreless in the first half, Griffen exploded for 17 points in the second half, as A&M earned its first win in Austin since 2002 with a 74-70 win over Texas on Saturday, Jan. 17.
The Aggies’ — who turned over nearly 100% of the roster after last season — were able to lean on their depth, with 20 bench points to the Longhorns’ six. Led by Griffen, the Maroon and White also shot 40% from beyond the arc for the night.
Texas A&M guard Rylan Griffen (3) defends against a lay up from Texas guard Chendall Weaver (2) during the Texas A&M men’s basketball game against Texas at Moody Center on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Steve Carrasco IV/The Battalion)
That development and chemistry — A&M gave up just six turnovers — may be reaching new heights in conference play, but it wasn’t instantaneous, McMillan said.
“We do have a mature team, that’s a true team,” McMillan said. “Now you say, ‘Well that sounds like coach speak.’ Y’all been in the media early in the season, I never said anything like that. They didn’t know each other’s names yet, but we have a team that’s playing for each other and fighting for each other, and that’s good to see. And that’s how you win games like this, not because it’s a rivalry game.”
The Longhorns started the game with a poor run of shooting form, going 1-for-9 from the field during a run that led to the under-12 media timeout, allowing the Aggies to take their first lead, 10-9, with a midrange jumper from sophomore G Rubén Dominguez.
That scoring drought continued after the timeout, and a dunk by sophomore forward Jamie Vinson — who transferred from Texas in the offseason — got a bit of revenge to extend the A&M scoring run to 7-0.
Both teams’ scoring had picked up by the time they reached the next media timeout, but A&M’s run during Texas’ shooting woes allowed the Maroon and White to maintain a 16-15 lead.
In a pattern that has become familiar to Aggie fans from both his time in Austin and his stint at Arkansas, graduate student G Tramon Mark’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer tied things up, 29-29, at halftime. But Mark’s shot served as damage control after a 7-0 run by Dominguez and senior G Jacari Lane put A&M in front moments before the break.
Paint war
While the Aggies were forced to shift to a small-ball style of play in the absence of junior F Mackenzie Mgbako — who suffered a season-ending injury — out of necessity, the shift forced a battle in the paint between the Aggies and Longhorns — and largely between graduate student F Rashaun Agee and sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis.
Agee and Dominguez each led A&M in points with seven in the opening frame. But the 7-foot Lithuanian wonder Vokietaitis led all scorers with 11 first-half points. Both Agee — who McMillan said earlier this week measured in at 6-foot-5 ¼ without shoes on — and Vokietaitis had seven first-half rebounds.
Statistically, the paint war was split in the first half. The Aggies held the advantage in points in the paint, 16-10, while the Longhorns outrebounded the visitors 22-16 and 8-4 on the offensive glass. That split helped keep things even, despite A&M shooting 43% to Texas’ 32% in the first half.
Texas A&M forward Rashaun Agee (12) gains the advantage in tip-off during the Texas A&M men’s basketball game against Texas at Moody Center on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Steve Carrasco IV/The Battalion)
But in the second half, the Aggies laid the lumber on the big Lithuanian, holding him to just three points and two rebounds. Meanwhile, Agee ended the night with 17 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the year..
“[Vokietaitis] is a really tough matchup, because he can score when he catches it and go to work,” McMillan said. “ … We knew we wouldn’t be able to just shut him completely down, but we had to make his buckets hard on him, and we had to lean on him and be physical with him.”
Bombs away
Of course, the easiest way to win a paint battle is to make it completely irrelevant by draining 3-pointers. Enter Griffen.
After not scoring in the first half, the Kansas transfer put up 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half, including a four-point play. By the under-16 timeout, A&M held a 44-36 lead thanks to the work of Griffen and Agee.
“The start to the half is so important, we can’t have a four-minute warm up,” McMillan said. “It starts now. Get yourself ready to go.”
As has become a pattern during Southeastern Conference play during A&M’s 4-1 start, Agee certainly impressed the opponent’s coaching staff, particularly Texas head coach Sean Miller.
“We were aware of Agee,” Miller said. “I think that he’s very deserving of to be recognized as one of the better players in the SEC, and that’s quite a statement. … He hurt us, but he’s hurt virtually every team that they’ve played.”
Agee getting 3 the old fashioned way 👍 pic.twitter.com/HNOzYgH2dd
— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) January 18, 2026
Despite flashes of greatness from Texas’ guards, A&M held on to a consistent 5 to 10 point lead throughout most of the second half. Because every time Mark, senior G Jordan Pope or junior G/F Dailyn Swain stepped up, either Griffen, Agee or another Aggie answered back.
“We’re going to have those runs where someone comes out and gets hot and have some where we’re cold,” McMillan said. “But what’s been the biggest difference when we have been cold? We’ve been able to continue to try to get stop after stop after stop, where early in the season that wasn’t happening.”
Pope and Swain each had 17 points, tying them with Agee and Griffen for the game’s lead. Fourteen of Pope’s points came in the second half, as did 10 of Swain’s.
Griffen didn’t let that phase him, though, as he had a quick 5-0 stretch himself after hitting yet another 3-pointer with just over six minutes left in the game.
Texas A&M guard Jacari Lane (5) passes the ball behind Texas forward Lassina Obiorah (23) during the Texas A&M men’s basketball game against Texas at Moody Center on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Steve Carrasco IV/The Battalion)
The Longhorns did have a late rally left in them, cutting an 11-point lead down to just as few as three points with seven seconds remaining in the game after an 8-0 run powered largely by free throws.
That late momentum had the home crowd roaring and the lightshow effects in the Moody Center flashing neon. It wouldn’t have been the first time the Lone Star Showdown came down to a last-second prayer.
But Lane sealed the deal with a free throw of his own in the final minute as the Aggies picked up their first ever win in the Moody Center and sent the traveling contingent of the 12th Man home grinning all the way to the Buc-ee’s in Bastrop.
“I said to the Texas fans, ‘We may not come out on the right side of this … tonight, but the passion for basketball here, that’s great to see,’” McMillan said. “ … It was great to see that here in basketball season, we had great passion for both fanbases here.”
Next, A&M turns its attention to Mississippi State, whom the Aggies will host at Reed Arena at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21.