The Aggies fired two of their best rounds of the season, posting scores of 278 and 273 to finish the day at 17-under (551). A&M shot 6-under in a strong first round, but really established its presence in an 11-under second-round effort that featured an eagle and 18 birdies against just nine bogeys.
The Aggies hold a seven-stroke lead over Duke (-10), with two-time defending national champion Augusta State (-8) and Oklahoma (-7) in third and fourth, respectively.
"It was just a great day today," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "Everyone came to play and played really good golf. I thought we looked fantastic one through five. We did a great job of executing our game plan and sticking to it. Nobody forced anything or tried to make anything happen based on the situation, they just really concentrated and were focused on playing their game. We finished strong on both 18s and made a bunch of birdies coming in both times. We've put ourselves in excellent position to win and we really can't ask for much more than that."
Co-host Baylor is in fifth place at 1-under, followed by Tulsa (E), New Mexico (+2), Houston (+5), Lamar (+6), Iowa (+7), Notre Dame (+8), Missouri (+17), co-host SMU (+21) and Army (+33).
Individually, Russell shot a 133 (66-67) to sit at 9-under in the tournament, two strokes ahead of MJ Daffue of Lamar and James Ross of Houston. The College Station native totaled 12 birdies and 21 pars, bogeying only three holes the entire day.
"It was just a great job by Jordan," Higgins said. "He came to play today. He birdied his first hole, made a great par on his second and was just really solid from there. He hit lots of great shots all day, had lots of birdie opportunities and obviously cashed in on his fair share of those."
A&M placed its three other scorers in the top 10 individually, as junior All-American Cameron Peck (70-69=139) and sophomore Johannes Veerman (70-69=139)-who is coming off the U.S. Collegiate Championship title-are tied for seventh at 3-under par. Redshirt freshman Greg Yates, who is competing in his first collegiate event for the Aggies, is tied for 10th at 2-under (72-68=140). Senior Geoff Shaw is at 5-over (74-73=147) while sophomore Jade Scott, playing as an individual, is at 9-over (72-79=151).
"Everyone really did great today," Higgins said. "They all showed up with purpose. Cam played fantastic, he was 4-over early and got back to 1-under in the morning round, then shot a 68 in afternoon. Johannes was 3-over in the morning round, got it back to 1-under and eagled his last hole of the day to give us four rounds in the 60s. I've also got to hand it to Greg Yates for a great job. He was a little frustrated because he made 17 pars and a bogey in the first round-he hit a lot of good shots but nothing would drop. But he hung in there real well and stuck to it and had a terrific day, and birdied three of his last four holes in the afternoon round to shoot 68."
Tuesday's final round is set for 8:30 a.m. Fans can follow the action through live scoring at Golfstat.com and aggieathletics.com, while updates will also be available on twitter at @AggieMensGolf.
 "We wanted to make up for our first two starts and I think we did that today," Higgins said. "Tomorrow we're going to show up, play the same way, stick to our game plan, go out and execute the same and see if we can come back with a win."
For Aggie fans interested in attending, Royal Oaks is located just east of Central Expressway (US 75) on Greenville Avenue. The course sits south of LBJ Freeway (I-635) between Royal Lane and Meadow Road.