Texas 70, Texas A&M 68

Monday night in College Station, the Texas Longhorns defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 70-68 in their last scheduled Big12 Conference match-up before the Aggies leave for the SEC. J'Covan Brown dropped 20 points and 7 assists on the A&M defense, leaving no doubt that when ESPN's Brent Musburger calls Brown an "assassin" that he knows what he's talking about. Shooting 4-4 from the 3-point line and hitting the pair of last-minute free throws that sealed the victory, Brown shined brightest in the clutch, scoring or assisting 10 of the Longhorns' final 12 points. But the game ball might actually need to be given to Jonathan Holmes, who provided a much-needed spark off of the bench by scoring 9 points in a 5-minute stretch midway through the 2nd half. Fellow freshmen Sheldon McClellan (15 points) and Jaylen Bond (8 rebounds) also made important contributions and coach Rick Barnes actually drew up a few nice looking offensive plays to close out a tightly-contested ballgame. Suddenly with an overall record of 15-9, Texas can feel a little better about its post-season hopes. With 7 games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Longhorns might still manage to slide into the NCAA Tournament by winning as few as 3 of them in a conference stacked enough to support sending even its mediocre teams to the Big Dance.