KANSAS CITY -- All the Aggies needed was a decent showing.

They'd already locked up an NCAA Tournament bid with Friday's victory over Kansas State.

Psychologically -- for them and their fans -- they couldn't digress and look like the team that lost five of its last seven regular season games. Or, worse yet, get embarrassed by the fifth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.

Well, what A&M did was far from embarrassing. Actually, it bordered on valiant.

The Aggies capped their stay at the Big 12 Tournament on Saturday afternoon with a gutsy 77-71 semifinal loss. A&M's effort defined what this team is about, and maybe where this program is headed.

A&M sophomore point guard Donald Sloan played only 12 minutes after twisting an an ankle in the first half. It had already been a tough week for Sloan, whose mother died Thursday.

Freshman center DeAndre Jordan wasn't a factor either. The 7-footer, who has been battling stomach issues, played only 4 minutes.

That forced the Aggies to match Kansas' talent-laden roster with Derrick Roland, Beau Muhlbach and Chinemelu Elonu, who combined for four points and 6 minutes a week ago when the Jayhawks rolled to a 72-55 victory at Reed Arena.

Yet, A&M was in a one-possession game with 30 seconds left thanks to the efforts of Roland, Muhlbach and Chinemelu combined with solid games by Joseph Jones and Bryan Davis.

Their effort came against a team that can win the national championship. Against a team that was playing before a partisan crowd of 18,897.

"There was no quit in us," A&M first-year head coach Mark Turgeon said. "We might have folded our tents early in the year down 7 or 8 in front of their fans, but we kept fighting through it."

The crowd gave the Aggies the greatest compliment.

It was much louder than it had been for the semifinal game against Nebraska. That's because the Jayhawks knew the Aggies could win. Yet, there was no way that A&M lineup should beat Kansas in that environment.

But Saturday's A&M team played like the Aggies that won last season at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan., and the fans remembered.

They were jovial at the start, happy that in-state rival Kansas State was watching on television.

One fan's sign said: "Where did [Michael] Beasley go? Bring on the Aggies."

The league's most valuable player wasn't on the court, but Jones made the crowd nervous with a stellar first half that helped the Aggies to a 34-34 tie.

Jones hit 5 of 8 shots for 11 points, including a 3-pointer.

The talented Jayhawks put the clamps on Jones on the second half, limiting him to just one shot, but it was another big 3-pointer.

Jones had averaged only 7.5 points per game in his last 11 games. He wasn't the force a 6-foot-9, 255-pound senior needed to be. He shot a dismal 29 of 71 from the field -- 40.8 percent. Those are pitiful numbers for someone who shot more than 50 percent in this first three seasons of his collegiate career.

If Jones can play next week like he did Saturday, the Aggies will be a force to reckon with in the NCAA Tournament.

But he will be a factor only if the other players continue to play well. Davis added 16 points and seven rebounds -- four of them offensive -- as A&M had a 35-25 rebounding edge. The hustling Aggies had a 21-11 edge on second-chance points.

Muhlbach was inspirational. He hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers, hit all five free throws, had four rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes. Kansas could pressure him into only one turnover.

"This program is built on toughness," he said.

At least it was on Saturday, as Turgeon never looked better on the sideline.

Every time Kansas appeared ready to take control, the Aggies made a play. Even when things didn't go A&M's way, it was Turgeon standing, motioning with his hands for the team to settle down.

It didn't matter that shots weren't falling early, or that Sloan couldn't play the second half. A&M just kept battling.

The Aggies milked the shot clock and refused to get into a running game. Everyone Turgeon brought off the bench produced.

A&M came within a whisker of an upset despite Kansas' Brandon Rush. He scored 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting after a 2-for-9 performance against A&M last week. Forward Darnell Jackson (14 points) also had a solid game, but A&M's makeshift lineup did a great job on the rest of the Jayhawks' lineup.

A&M's stellar week vaulted it from a bubble team to a No. 8 seed in the latest edition of "Bracketology" by ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

The Aggies' stay in Kansas City was far from embarrassing. More like defining.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.