Texas A&M avoids an Ivy League upset by beating Yale 80-71 in NCAA Tournament

DENVER (AP) - No need to overthink this one. Texas A&M was never in danger of letting the Ivy Leaguers from Yale pull another March Madness upset.

The Aggies sent Yale back to class Thursday with an 80-71 victory behind a career-high 25 points along with 10 rebounds from big man Pharrel Payne.

Fourth-seeded A&M (23-10) came into the NCAA Tournament on a lot of "upset watch" lists, thanks mainly to going against a Yale team some thought might be even better than the one that pulled off a first-round shocker last year against Auburn.

But an upper-division team from the best conference in the country, the Southeastern, proved too much for the Yalies.

"We played pretty well in the first half," said A&M guard Wade Taylor IV, who finished with 16 points. "We still had a couple things we could have cleaned up, which we tried to do in the second half. Ultimately, we played to the game plan, and I think we executed it pretty well."

Coach Buzz Williams earned his second March Madness win in six years at College Station. A&M's next game is Saturday against Michigan or UC San Diego.

John Poulakidas led 13th-seeded Yale with 23 points.

With no NIL money to spend or scholarships to give, Yale (22-8) probably needed something close to a masterpiece to knock off one of the more athletic and stronger rebounding teams in the country.

When Nick Townsend made a short turnaround from the paint with 8:36 left, Yale had trimmed its deficit to six and the upset looked in play.

Jace Carter answered with a 3, then Andersson Garcia rejected Casey Simmons' shot - one of four A&M blocks on the night. Then Carter got a putback off an offensive rebound - A&M leads the country in that category - to start a 9-0 run that was too steep for the Bulldogs.

"In these games, you have to be almost perfect to get it done," said Yale coach James Jones. "So we weren't perfect, and herein lies a loss."

For most of the evening, Texas A&M's defense met the Bulldogs at midcourt with an annoying zone trap, clogging up their offense and making things awkward.

Poulakidas needed 18 shot attempts to get his points, while Bez Mbeng, a 13-point-a-game scorer, finished with two points (also eight rebounds and nine assists) before fouling out.

On the other end, nobody really had an answer for Payne, a transfer from Minnesota, who carved out space in the paint and shot 10 for 12.

"When I entered the portal, Coach Buzz was the first person to come over and see me," Payne said. "When he told me what they were doing over there at A&M, I wanted to be part of it."

Payne's tip-in with 2:29 left led to a three-point play that officially put the game out of reach and helped A&M finish with a 10-6 edge on the offensive glass and a 15-8 advantage in second-chance points.

Poulakidas and Mbeng, both seniors, were teary in the postgame news conference while discussing the impact of their time at Yale and the mentorship they received from Jones and his staff.

"It's meant everything to us," Poulakidas said.

Taylor’s first bucket made him the 28th player in SEC history to crack the 2,000-point mark for his career. He heads into the second round with 2,015.

It didn’t cost them in this one, but the Aggies poor free-throw shooting came up again. The nation’s 266th-ranked team from the line went 12 for 21.

Asked about the effectiveness of his zone trap, Williams said one of Texas A&M’s goals was to win “time of possession” against Yale.

The reason. He said the scouting report showed the Bulldogs hadn't been behind by more than three possessions in a game since Nov. 16, and keeping their possessions long and difficult was key to winning.