Aggies' promising lead vanished as Tramon Mark ignited Texas's second-half surge, dashing NCAA hopes in a nail-biting rivalry showdown.
Texas A&M suffered a crushing defeat at home to Texas on Saturday, losing 76-70 in a Lone Star Showdown with massive NCAA Tournament implications.
The Aggies started slow, but were able to force the Longhorns' two leading scorers, Dailyn Swain and Matas Vokietaitis, into two early fouls. This had a lasting impact on the rest of the first half.
Texas still led midway through the first half, but A&M caught fire, going on a 9-0 run to take a 24-20 lead.
It was a back-and-forth contest during the final six minutes of the first frame, but the Aggies took a 30-29 lead going into the locker room.
A&M's full-court pressure was rattling the Longhorns, forcing eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
But holding one of the nation's most efficient offenses to under 30 points and 36.7% shooting should've yielded the Aggies a much larger halftime lead.
That would ultimately come back to bite them in the second half.
Texas opened the second half on a 15-6 run, putting them up 44-36 with just under 14 minutes left in the game.
And A&M never fully recovered from its lethargic second-half start.
Longhorns guard Tramon Mark, a player A&M fans have become plenty familiar with over the last couple of seasons, haunted the Aggies again, recording 23 points, including 17 in the final 20 minutes.
A&M guard Pop Isaacs tried to go toe-to-toe with Mark, putting up 14 of his own in the second half, but he didn't get much help from the rest of his team.
On top of Mark, Texas also had guard Jordan Pope and Vokietaitis score double figures in the final frame.
The Longhorns' offense, which was awfully quiet to begin the game, returned to its normal settings, and the Aggies had no answers.
They played well. They stepped up and made tough shots late, we didn't," A&M head coach Bucky McMillan said after the loss. "We're both tournament-level teams, but it's a play here and there, and their guards made those plays late."
Speaking of the tournament, A&M entered this game on the bubble, sitting in Joe Lunardi's Last Four Byes category.
A Quadrant One victory over Texas potentially could've lifted the Aggies above the bubble, giving them some much-needed breathing room, but now, their backs are against the wall as they try to punch their ticket over the next two weeks.
A&M closes its regular season with games against Kentucky and LSU before traveling to Nashville for the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
If they plan on participating in March Madness, the Aggies have to treat every matchup as a must-win game.