A 24-win season is definitely a point of pride, but the Texas A&M Aggies relish the opportunity to add to that total.

The Aggies roll into the NCAA tournament looking to show there is more to the Big 12 Conference than Kansas and Texas.

The Aggies open the NCAA tournament on Friday in Chicago against Florida State. Texas A&M comes in as a No. 7 seed, meaning with a victory the Aggies likely will be staring at No. 2 seed Notre Dame in the next round.

But the Aggies won’t be intimidated against anybody they play, having slugged it out with the Jayhawks, Longhorns and Kansas State – all ranked teams – in the Big 12 this season.

The Aggies enter the NCAAs having won seven of their past 10.

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After five victories in a row, the Texas A&M Aggies stumbled down the stretch, losing two games in a row.

But the Aggies snapped a two-game winning streak Saturday with a 66-54 victory over Texas Tech, giving Texas A&M some momentum heading into next week’s Big 12 tournament.

The No. 22-ranked Aggies have put together a strong season, finishing tied for third with Kansas State at 10-6 in conference play. Texas A&M gets the third seed by virtue of its 64-56 victory over the Wildcats on Jan. 22.

With a 23-7 overall record, the Aggies will end up in the NCAA tournament. But first, Texas A&M sets its sights on winning the Big 12, no easy task with No. 2 Kansas and No. 8 Texas sitting in the top two spots in the conference.

The Big 12 tournament begins Wednesday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

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All those free throws the Texas A&M Aggies shoot in practice paid off in a big way on Saturday.

Fighting to hold off Kansas State in a matchup of Top 25 teams in College Station, the No. 10 Aggies hit 13 shots from the line in the final two minutes to beat back the No. 24 Wildcats 64-56.

Texas A&M improved to 17-2 and 4-1 in the Big 12. But it wasn’t easy; a rugged game featuring 48 fouls ended with the Aggies sealing the victory at the free-throw line. Texas A&M finished 27 of 37 from the stripe.

Khris Middleton led the way with 18 points for Texas A&M, which rebounded from an ugly 81-60 defeat at No. 11 Texas on Wednesday.

The Aggies are off until traveling Saturday to Nebraska. A rematch with Texas awaits at home on Monday.

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Bryan Davis was on his way to a double-double, and the Texas A&M Aggies held a double-digit lead. They could see the Sweet 16.

But they didn’t get there.

Purdue evaporated the Aggies’ 11-point lead in the second half, then got the game-winning bucket from Chris Kramer with 4.2 seconds left in overtime, sending Davis and the Aggies home for the season with a painful 63-61 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash.

Davis played well for Texas A&M (24-10), leading the Aggies with 17 points and 15 rebounds. He hit on 8-of-17 shots from the field, remarkable considering Texas A&M was held to just 35.4 percent shooting in the game.

B.J. Holmes missed long jumpers at the end of regulation and the end of overtime. David Loubeau scored 12 points for the Aggies, while Donald Sloan added 11 for a Texas A&M team that had won 10 of 13 games coming into the matchup with Purdue.

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