March 11, 2007
The Texas A&M men's basketball team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will meet Penn in first-round action Thursday in Lexington, Ky., the selection committee announced Sunday.
The Aggies (25-6) earned the No. 3 seed in the South Region. The game between A&M and 14th-seeded Penn (22-8) will be played at Rupp Arena at approximately 2:10 p.m. (CDT).
The ticket allotment provided to Texas A&M for the first-round game has been distributed. Our requests did exceed our allotment. Donors and season ticket holders who requested tickets are being notified by e-mail on March 11 as to the status of their request.
A limited number of tickets are available by (ukathletics.com).
Helpful Links:
- (ukathletics.com)
- (Wed 03/14, 8pm)
- (ukathletics.com)
- (visitlex.com)
- (PDF)
The winner of that game will meet either No. 6-seed Louisville (23-9) or No. 11-seed Stanford (18-12) in the second round Saturday.
The Quakers won the Ivy League championship on March 7, finishing with a 13-1 conference mark after defeating Princeton on March 7.
Other first-round games in Lexington Thursday are South Region matchups: No. 1-seed Ohio State (30-3) vs. No. 16-seed Central Connecticut State (22-11) and No. 8-seed BYU (25-8) vs. No. 9-seed Xavier (24-8).
All games will be televised by CBS Sports.
Thursday Game Times:
- 12:40 p.m. (EDT): Louisville vs. Stanford
- 30 mins after Game 1: Texas A&M vs. Pennsylvania
- 7:10 p.m. (EDT): Ohio State vs. Central Connecticut
- 30 mins after Game 3: Brigham Young vs. Xavier
Saturday Game Times:
- 1:10 p.m. (EDT): Ohio State-Central Connecticut winner vs. Brigham Young-Xavier winner
- 30 minutes after: Louisville-Stanford winner vs. Texas A&M-Pennsylvania
NCAA SELECTION SUNDAY
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
COACH BILLY GILLISPIE:
"Our guys are totally excited about getting into the tournament. We didn't care what seed we were going to be. I could not care less. All the teams are very, very good. Penn is an outstanding opponent and they are going to do all they can to win, just like us and everybody else. We are not going to be looking past anyone. We know we are going to have to prepare for a very good team. We will be prepared and will play as hard as we can. We've played really good basketball this year but we haven't reached out peak."
SOPHOMORE JOSH CARTER:
"This is what we work so hard for, the opportunity to play in the NCAAs. It feels good to get in and now we have to focus and go play. I saw Penn play a little on TV and they are a very good team. I was very excited to see my brother (Warren, who plays at Illinois) get into the tourney. We were texting while the announcements were made."
SENIOR ACIE LAW:
"It is a very high honor to make the NCAAs and to be the top seed in Texas A&M history. We have to focus on Penn. We know they are a solid team and they compete hard. This year was a little different than last year because we felt we were in. It was just a matter of where we would be going and who we would be playing. I think back to my freshman year and I am just blessed to have the opportunity to continue playing for Texas A&M. This has been a very special year for me as a senior."