{"id":213661,"date":"2026-03-21T00:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213661\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T00:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:03:11","slug":"texas-am-vs-houston-could-depend-on-rashaun-agee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213661\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&M vs Houston could depend on Rashaun Agee"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014\u00a0When he picked his favorite jersey number before the season,\u00a0Rashaun Agee didn’t understand how important “12” is to the\u00a0Texas A&M Aggies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But he quickly learned 12th Man lore and the importance of\u00a0Aggies fans after admitting he didn’t know much about it in November. And fans quickly learned about the importance of\u00a0Agee on an undersized A&M team eyeing its first Sweet 16 in nearly a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Maybe the only person who understood the impact of both was Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan. He took the stand<\/a> during a court proceeding to decide if Agee could play this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy that is worth fighting for,” McMillan said this summer.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas A&M forward Rashaun Agee (12) reacts after a dunk in front of Saint Mary’s center Andrew McKeever (45) and Texas A&M forward Zach Clemence (7) during the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Oklahoma City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nate Billings\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

MORE:Our prediction, what you need to kn<\/a>ow about Texas A&M vs Houston<\/a><\/p>\n

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After being the\u00a0Aggies’ leading scorer for the 16th\u00a0time this season in a win over Saint Mary’s<\/a> in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, at least one of his teammates agrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“(Agee) does a great job with the guys day in and day out,” guard Pop Isaacs said. “Better than, like, just the basketball player; he’s a great person to be around every day, which helps a lot.”<\/p>\n

Now, Agee, Issacs\u00a0and the Aggies are one win away from returning to the Lone Star State for their first\u00a0Sweet 16 since 2018.<\/p>\n

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Rashaun Agee’s\u00a0leadership, experience proving invaluable for A&M basketball<\/p>\n

Agee took the podium Friday with his teammates and coach, flashing his usual big smile and eagerness to tell a joke.<\/p>\n

His age, 25 years old, is usually the\u00a0punchline in the locker room. McMillan even went so far as to say Friday that Agee doesn’t need to worry about money because he’s so old, he’s “getting social security right now.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jokes aside, Agee’s presence in College Station has been, in many ways, exactly what McMillan needed in Year 1 with the program. Agee leads the team in minutes (26.9 per game), points (14.9 per game), rebounds (8.9 per game) and blocks (0.8 per game). He spent his first three seasons with\u00a0midmajor programs before playing at USC last year.<\/p>\n

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Once he got to A&M, he quickly let his personality shine.<\/p>\n

“There are energy vampires who suck the energy out of the room, and he’s the opposite,” McMillan said. “He brings life to the party.”<\/p>\n

On the court, Agee is the voice A&M turns to. From barking out switches on defense to bringing energy after a big dunk, the Chicago native has been a key part of the implementation of “Bucky Ball.” Energy and communication are important for a team that presses all game long and hunts 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

Thursday,\u00a0Agee scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win over Saint Mary’s. It was the seventh time he scored 20 or more points this season and he was one rebound away from his 14th double-double of the year.<\/p>\n

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“Because of his age, he’s had such a long route to get here. So he’s so appreciative,” McMillan said. “I think the team knows he has the team’s best interest at heart. I think his age has helped him with that because he’s a very mature player and a mature person.”<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Texas A&M got defensive to put away St. Mary’s in NCAA first-round win<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rashaun<\/p>\n

Rashaun Agee (12) of Texas A&M\u00a0dunks the ball during the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament against Saint Mary’s held at Paycom Center on March 19, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Photo by Shane Bevel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Shane Bevel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Aggies\u00a0need Agee vs elite\u00a0Houston team<\/p>\n

Agee has largely been playing out of position this season due to the loss of key player Mackenzie Mgbako<\/a>, who was sidelined by a leg injury before conference play began.<\/p>\n

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Despite being listed at 6-foot-7 \u2014 and McMillan stating on a few occasions he’s more like 6-foot-5 \u2014 Agee often matches up against the opponent’s biggest player. On Thursday, that meant battling in the low block for rebounds with Saint Mary’s Andrew McKeever\u00a0(7-foot-2) and Harry Wessels\u00a0(7-foot-1).<\/p>\n

He’ll need to keep that effort going Saturday when Agee and the Aggies face Houston, which ended\u00a0the regular season ranked second in the country in scoring defense (62.4 points per game) and 42nd in offensive rebounds (12.6 per game). Leading rebounder Chris Cenac Jr stands 6-foot-11 and pulled down 18 boards against Idaho.<\/p>\n

“I will just say they really get after you defensively,” guard Rylan Griffen said. “They have a great reputation for being a great defensive team. So just making sure we don’t give them points by turning the ball over will be really, really key for us in this type of game.”<\/p>\n

Houston has held teams to under 70 points 24 times and to under 50 points six times. Thursday, the Cougars limited Idaho to 47 points, forcing it to shoot just 28.6% from the field and 20% from beyond the arc. The No. 5 team in the country in terms of\u00a0RPI, the second-seeded Cougars just might be the most challenging battle the\u00a0Aggies have had since March began.<\/p>\n

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“Well, (Houston looks) like five Tyrannosaurus\u00a0Rexes out there,” McMillan said. “They’re long, big, athletic, well-coached and tough.”<\/p>\n

Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014\u00a0When he picked his favorite jersey number before the season,\u00a0Rashaun Agee didn’t understand how important “12”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48876,3112,24268,27,16771,6095,29,28],"class_list":["post-213661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-march-madness","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-rashaun-agee","tag-texas","tag-texas-a-m-aggies-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-am-basketball","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}