Texas A&M vs. Green Bay: Score And Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

The 14th-seeded Green Bay Phoenix got off to a hot start but ultimately succumbed to the Texas A&M Aggies' physical defense, as the No. 3 seed won, 92-65, Friday night in the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City in the first round of the 2016 NCAA tournament. 

The Aggies held their opponents to 37.5 percent shooting from the field, including a 33.3 percent clip from beyond the arc. Only two Phoenix players—sophomore guard Khalil Small and Jamar Hurdle—scored in double figures.

In comparison, Texas A&M was an impressive 56.1 percent shooting. Senior guard Danuel House led the way with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists. House was one of five Aggie players to register double-digit scoring numbers.

The Phoenix have become known for their "RP 40" strategy, which head coach Linc Darner developed.

"Yeah, 'Relentless Pressure for 40 minutes,'" said senior guard Carrington Love as he described the tactic last October, per Chris Roth of WBAY.com. "You know, playing fast, scoring a lot, getting a lot of steals. That's what I'm looking forward to."

Since Green Bay's style is so difficult to replicate in practice, Texas A&M had some trouble dealing with the pressure early on. The Horizon League champions turned a steal into two points on the other end as they opened their scoring:

The Aggies committed 12 turnovers in the first half, and following a 12-0 run from the Phoenix, A&M was staring at an eight-point deficit, 22-14, with 10 minutes, 52 seconds left until halftime.

Despite its relatively hot start, though, Green Bay struggled to find a groove shooting and relied heavily on the havoc it created on the defensive end. Those offensive issues were bound to catch up with the team sooner or later.

Texas A&M took the lead at the 5:34 mark of the first half following a dunk by sophomore center Tonny Trocha-Morelos. The Aggies then closed the half on an 11-2 run, which increased their advantage to eight points, 41-33.

SB Nation's Good Bull Hunting found the perfect way to counter the Phoenix's swarming defense:

For the Dallas Morning News, A&M's halftime edge, coupled with the lead Stephen F. Austin was enjoying over West Virginia at the time, showed the state of Texas was more than Friday night high school football:

Texas A&M has been a good defensive team in its own right this year, ranking 11th in adjusted defense on KenPom.com. Not only that, Green Bay had no answer for the Aggies' presence in the paint. In addition to Trocha-Morelos, A&M also had freshman center Tyler Davis, with both players standing 6'10". They helped their team own a 45-25 edge in rebounding.

Rivals.com's Mark Passwaters thought those two in large part helped ignite the team's turnaround:

Once Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy found a winning strategy, he didn't deviate from the game plan. TexAgs.com provided a rough outline of said game plan:

Former Aggies running back Tra Carson was particularly pleased with what he was seeing from Davis:

Davis finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while Trocha-Morelos 15 points and six boards off the bench.

Texas A&M's lead continued to grow the longer the second half went on; Green Bay had no Plan B once Plan A failed. What looked like a potentially close game in the first half turned into a blowout as the Aggies went ahead by 21 points inside the final 10 minutes.

Looking ahead, the prospect of an all-Texas second-round matchup remains. A&M will play the winner of Texas vs. Northern Iowa, which is set to tip off at 9:50 p.m. ET. According to Sports-Reference.com, the Longhorns and Aggies have played each other 141 times since the 1949-50 season, with Texas owning an 82-59 edge.

The rivalry between the two schools has lied largely dormant since Texas A&M moved to the SEC, so it would be entertaining to see the two Texas powers renew hostilities.

In order for that to happen, though, Texas still needs to get past a tricky Northern Iowa team. The Panthers rely on a methodical tempo that isn't aesthetically pleasing but produces results. Most of the team's key players aren't strangers to the NCAA tournament, either, after beating Wyoming in last year's round of 64 before falling to Louisville.

Regardless of whom the team plays, Texas A&M will be favored, and the Aggies more than lived up to the hype against Green Bay as one of the strongest the West region has to offer.

Postgame Reaction

The Texas A&M athletic department shared comments from Kennedy, Davis and House after the game:

Darner spoke about what he thought turned the game against the Phoenix, per Green Bay's official site:

"

I thought the first ten or 12 minutes before we got into foul trouble, I thought we caused them some problems. I thought we got them to turn the ball over. I think we turned them over 10 or 11 times in the first eight or nine minutes of the game. I thought when we got in foul trouble and we couldn't keep pressing them because we had to play rotations that we hadn't played much this year, I thought they made a run.

"

"[Texas A&M] has a good enough team to make a run at [a national title]," said Darner, per Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle.

Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.