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
