December 02, 2001
No. 15 Texas A&M will face No. 6 Wisconsin in the NCAA Regional semifinals at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., the NCAA announced today. The teams will meet Friday at 7 p.m. (CST) at Maples Pavilion.
No. 3 Stanford and No. 13 Utah follow at 9 p.m.(CST) in the other regional semifinal. The regional final will be held Saturday at 9:30 p.m. also at Maples Pavilion, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championship on Dec. 13 and 15 in San Diego, Calif.
The Aggies (25-5) advanced to the third round after sweeping both Texas-Arlington and Texas in the first two rounds in College Station. A&M, who last advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999, is making its fourth appearance in the round of 16 since 1995 and its sixth overall.
The Badgers (27-3), who last year fell to Nebraska in five games in the NCAA Championship match, are making their fourth Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last five years after defeating both Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Michigan State in the first two rounds played in Madison, Wisc.
A&M is 0-2 all-time against the Badgers, although both matches have gone to five games. The teams last met on September 7, 1996, in Madison with then-No. 17 Wisconsin escaping with a 12-15, 11-15, 15-11, 15-8, 16-14 come-from-behind victory to win the Inntowner Classic.
The Badgers also held on to a 14-16, 15-13, 8-15, 15-10, 15-7 win against the Aggies at the 1992 Asics Tiger Classic hosted by Louisiana State.
A win against Wisconsin would send the Aggies to the Elite Eight for only the second time in the history of the program. In 1999, the Aggies upset No. 3 Hawaii in four games in Honolulu to advance to the regional final where they lost to No. 6 Long Beach State in three games.