National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Vanderbilt 86, Texas A&M 84
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Where: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Officials: # Don Daily, # Doug Sirmons, # K.B. Burdett Jr.
Attendance: 9287

Tyler Nickel scored 21 points on a career-high seven 3-pointers and Vanderbilt held on to upset No. 12 Texas A&M 86-84 in the Southeastern Conference nailbiter at College Station, Texas, on Wednesday.

MJ Collins Jr. added 16 points and Jason Edwards contributed 15 for Vanderbilt (19-9, 7-8 SEC), which had to survive foul trouble.

Pharrel Payne led Texas A&M with 23 points and Wade Taylor IV contributed 21 points and six assists. Zhuric Phelps chipped in 14 and CJ Wilcher had 12 for the Aggies (20-8, 9-6), who have lost three games in a row.

The Aggies saw their shooting struggles continue. They hit 37.1 percent from the field have reached 46 percent just once in their last seven games.

The 2 1/2-hour game featured 52 fouls, 28 on Commodores. Vanderbilt's two best big men, Devin McGlockton and Jaylen Carey, picked up their fourth fouls with 11:55 and 12:22 left in the game, respectively.

Edwards, Vanderbilt's leading scorer, then got his third with 9:24 left and was hit with a technical for arguing the call.

The Commodores then went with seldom-used sophomore JQ Roberts underneath. Roberts converted a dunk off a steal by Nickel with 5:40 left to put Vanderbilt up 65-57.

With the shot clock running down, Nickel canned a 3-pointer with 4:11 left to push the lead back to eight.

Two free throws by Collins pushed the margin to 10 with 3:33 to play.

Multiple late Vanderbilt turnovers kept the Aggies in it, but the Commodores knocked away a desperation heave toward the lane on an in-bounds play with 0.2 seconds left.

Both teams struggled offensively out of the gate in a slow-paced game. Vanderbilt found some early separation thanks to smart play and great ball movement. A 15-2 run helped it establish a 28-16 lead, with nine of those coming on 3-pointers by Nickel.

But Vanderbilt ended the half with 11 fouls (five players each having two) to the Aggies' five.

That helped the Aggies make a 10-0 run late in the half. Vanderbilt missed its last eight field-goal attempts before intermission and clung to a 34-32 lead.

Taylor's 12 points led the Aggies at the break.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Vanderbilt   Texas A&M
Tyler Nickel 21 Scoring Pharrel Payne 23
Tyler Tanner 4 Assists Wade Taylor IV 6
Devin McGlockton 10 Rebounds Andersson Garcia 11
Jason Edwards 8 Free Throws Made Wade Taylor IV 13
A.J. Hoggard 2 Steals Solomon Washington 3
Devin McGlockton 2 Blocks Solomon Washington 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Vanderbilt 86 41.4 10-24 28-36 17 32 5 9 9
Texas A&M 84 37.1 7-22 31-39 15 35 3 7 12