NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Texas’ thrilling double-overtime victory over No. 14 Texas A&M in the SEC tournament on Thursday helped position the Longhorns for a potential at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.

Texas improved to 19-14 with the 94-88 victory, and the win over the Aggies marked its seventh Quad 1 victory of the season.

That set the stage for even higher stakes for the SEC’s historic season, as a Longhorns bid could make them the 14th SEC team to reach the NCAA tournament. The highest prior mark was the Big East’s 11 bids in 2011.

The win Thursday afternoon positions Texas’ game against No. 8 Tennessee on Friday in the SEC quarterfinals as an opportunity to solidify their NCAA status if they pull another upset. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Texas into the tournament as the final team in the field in his latest Bracketology rankings on Thursday, but that status is fickle, with potential bid thieves coming from smaller-conference tournaments.

But Texas’ upset victories over both Texas A&M and Vanderbilt this week have significantly built the case for the Longhorns, who entered the SEC tournament as the No. 13 seed.

Texas coach Rodney Terry said the Longhorns, who are fully healthy after battling injuries during league play, are peaking for March.

“We have star power,” Terry said. “We’re playing well. We have our team that we anticipated that having to play for us right now, and we’re playing good basketball. So I think all that matters down the stretch.”

Texas star freshman Tre Johnson led the Longhorns with 20 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the second overtime. He’s confident in Texas’ chances.

“I think we should be in by now for sure,” Johnson said. “But if not, we can still put our hard hats on and come back and get another one tomorrow.”

The back-to-back upset victories by the Longhorns over No. 12 seed Vanderbilt and No. 5 seed Texas A&M added another potential layer of history to the SEC’s juggernaut season.

“I do think what’s transpiring is historic,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “And I don’t think that when you’re living in it, you’re clapping as a fan or as a media member going, ‘This is really cool.’ I think you’re trying to figure out how to not suffocate yourself from the burden that you feel, that this possession can move the needle.”

Williams coached at Marquette in the Big East in 2011 when the league got 11 teams in the tournament, and he said the slim margins in nearly every SEC game have the players locked in.

“I have found that the guys that we’re coaching are much more receptive to the lessons because they realize that what we’re trying to explain could be the difference in the game,” he said, citing the statistical likelihood of a one-possession or two-possession game.