Texas A&M’s NET ranking, NCAA Tournament standing after Missouri loss

COLLEGE STATION — Following a strong start to the season, Texas A&M basketball still has some work to do.

Back-to-back losses last week hurt, but didn’t crush the Aggies. Losing to Alabama and then Florida forced just a five-spot drop in the NCAA Evaluation Tool to 42. However, A&M’s 86-85 loss Wednesday to Missouri, its third in a row, means there was another shift downward in NET, a key metric for the NCAA Tournament’s selection committee.

“We’re not going to quit. We have to make the next play in the next game. It happens to every team,” forward Zach Clemence said following the loss. “We have to get right back for Vandy. We’ll be ready.”

MORE AGGIES: Texas A&M vs Missouri game recap, highlights: Aggies fall to Tigers at the buzzer

With the Aggies still squarely in the NCAA Tournament mix, let’s look at where they currently stand and what comes next:

At their peak this season, the Aggies reached 35 in the NET rankings following their win over Georgia. The loss earlier this month to the Tide pushed the Aggies to 36th. They lost another four spots after falling to Florida before settling at 42nd ahead of Wednesday’s game. The loss to Missouri lowered it one spot to 43rd, keeping it squarely in the mix for an NCAA Tournament spot

Missouri ranked 61st in the NET ranking pregame. As of Thursday morning, the Tigers jumped to 57th. 

With 68 invites and 31 automatic bids for conference champions, a NET rating in the low 40s or better should seal a spot in the field. After Wednesday, the Aggies are 4-2 in Quad 2 games; the only other such loss was 86-74 to UCF in November.

Four players taller than 6-foot-7 helped the Tigers clobber an undersized A&M side on the boards and on offense. Just two Aggies grabbed four or more rebounds, neither of whom was the 6-foot-11 Clemence. Five Tigers recorded four or more rebounds.

“Really tough loss. We knew it would be a tough game,” head coach Bucky McMillan said. “We couldn’t stop them or combat their size. We tried things and still couldn’t stop them. They scored 56 points in the paint. It is what it is in this league. We have to move forward.”

In terms of Quad 1 games, those against the best competition, A&M is 3-5. With seven games remaining, four are Quad 1 opportunities.

The Aggies face three top-25 teams over the last three weeks of the regular season. Next up is No. 19 Vanderbilt, followed by hosting Ole Miss. From there, A&M travels to Oklahoma and No. 21 Arkansas before hosting Lone Star rival Texas in the second of two meetings. It beat the Longhorns Jan. 17.

The home slate is capped off with a matchup against No. 25 Kentucky before the season finale in Baton Rouge, La., against LSU, a team they’ve already beaten.

“We’ll have a lot of these, it is what it is in the SEC, man,” McMillan said. “They could go either way, but the great part is you got great opportunities every night here to make up for it.”

Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.