PHILADELPHIA – Even though the immediacy of the 26-point loss stung, senior Josh Carter took time to reflect on his terrific career at Texas A&M.

"I was just thinking about that out there," said Carter, a former Lake Highlands standout, after the ninth-seeded Aggies were eliminated by No. 1-seeded Connecticut, 92-66, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. "It's been a good four years. But it's just hard to swallow."

Carter had only eight points on 3-of-13 shooting, snapping his 13-game streak of double-digit scoring.

In the big picture, Carter broke Dominique Kirk's school record with 135 games played. Carter is the winningest player in school history (98-37) and played in nine NCAA Tournament games.

"Josh has had an incredible career," A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "He was humble. He's going to have a smile on his face about his career."

Carter finished his career with 1,566 points, placing him seventh on the school's all-time list.

On the rebound: The Aggies will lose only Carter and Bryson Graham from this year's team that finished 24-10.

"We've got a lot of young guys that played tremendous all year," A&M junior guard Donald Sloan said. "To have as many guys as we have coming back next year, it will be special. It will be a pretty good team. We couldn't get it done this year. Hopefully, next year will be a lot better."

Staying positive: After a 3-7 start in the Big 12, an NCAA Tournament berth was anything but a given.

Despite the loss, Turgeon was pleased with winning 24 games and advancing to the second round of the NCAAs.

"There are not a lot of teams out there with 24 wins that played the schedule we played," Turgeon said.