Texas A&M
(#4) OKLAHOMA
No. 4 Oklahoma Survives Texas A&M's Upset Bid, 68-64
Feb 09, 2002 | Men's Basketball
February 09, 2002
Aaron McGhee scored 21 points and No. 4 Oklahoma took advantage of Texas A&M's sub-par free throw shooting for a 68-64 victory Saturday.
The Sooners (19-3, 8-2 Big 12) took a 64-55 lead with 2:30 to play on a jumper by McGhee, what turned out to be Oklahoma's final field goal.
Texas A&M (9-15, 3-7) made three free throws and Larry Scott hit a 3-pointer with just under a minute left to make it 64-61. Oklahoma made three free throws, but Bradley Jackson closed the Aggies within 67-64 with a three-point play.
Hollis Price, the Sooners' leading scorer who was held to 12 points, made one of two foul shots with 9.3 seconds remaining and Oklahoma held on for its 16th victory over Texas A&M in 17 meetings.
The Aggies shot just 61 percent from the foul line, going 17-for-28. Conversely, Oklahoma was 19-for-23, though two of the misses were in the hectic final 20 seconds.
Nick Anderson led the Aggies with 19 points and Bernard King had 16. Quannas White had 12 points for the Sooners.
Texas A&M led 27-26 with 4:11 left in the first half, but Oklahoma closed the half with a 10-3 run.
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Postgame Quotes
TEXAS A&M FORWARD NICK ANDERSON: "We changed up our defense some and that stopped some of their scoring. I was thinking how they are the No. 4 team in the country. We wanted to be them so bad. We really tried, but Aaron McGhee just seemed to score whenever he wanted to."
TEXAS A&M GUARD BERNARD KING: "If I make my free throws, we win. Some nights you just don't have it. You can't make them all the time. I just picked the wrong night to miss them. If we just play this hard every night, we could win a lot of games."
TEXAS A&M COACH MELVIN WATKINS: "We've worked on our free throws all year long. We just didn't hit them today. We played hard enough to win and its disappointing. Once we learn to play consistent, we may not beat teams like OU, but we can beat most teams in this conference. They beat us off the dribble too much. (Hollis) Price seems like the kind of guy who could have a big day against us, but I thought we did a good job guarding him. We have been shooting free throws really well in conference, but today was a step back."
OKLAHOMA COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: "You're not always sure what you're going to get when you play Texas A&M. When they play well, it's because they can be good. They are very athletic. I give (Larry) Scott and (Andy) Leatherman credit for hitting tough three-point shots when we had a 10 or 12 points lead. If A&M plays this well for the rest of the season, they will win some more games. Aaron McGhee is an all-conference guy. If he doesn't get a double-double these days, I'm surprised. Look at how hard he's playing. A&M competed their butts off against Kansas and already beat Texas once. These are the kinds of games that scare you. Bernard King is not my kid, but I was actually proud of the way he played today. He was a ball player out there. This game tells you a lot about this conference. Everybody in this conference can be good."
OKLAHOMA FORWARD AARON MCGHEE: "We just wanted to execute our offense a little better. Everybody on this team is just trying to make things happen."
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A&M Notes:
Bernard King scored 16 points and tied his career-high with 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the year and the fifth of his career. He also added five assists. The performance moves King into fifth place on A&M's career scoring chart with 1,396 points, passing Claude Riley (1,383, 1979-83) and Carroll Boussard (1,382, 1959-62). King needs 385 points to become A&M's all-time scoring leader.
Nick Anderson's 19 points were his most since he had 19 against Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 22 and 22 against Miami (Fla.) on Dec. 9. Anderson's eight rebounds tied his season high.
Bradley Jackson's 13 points were his second most of the year. He scored 16 in the win against Purdue.
Oklahoma made 82.6 percent from the free throw line (19-23), the fourth time in the last five games A&M's opponent has made at least 78 percent.
A&M our-rebounded the Sooners, 34-32, ending a streak of four straight games of been beaten on the boards. Going into today's game, A&M had been out-boarded in five of seven games since losing top rebounder Andy Slocum to a broken hand.
Oklahoma's Quannas White had 12 assists, most by an A&M opponent this season.
