February 02, 2005
Antoine Wright and Texas A&M were on the verge of handing 14th-ranked Oklahoma its second straight loss in the Big 12 Conference. Then Taj Gray and Terrell Everett took over for Oklahoma.
Gray scored 24 points and Everett added 20 as the Sooners rallied for a 69-65 victory over Texas A&M.
On Saturday, Oklahoma (17-4, 6-1 Big 12) had a 10-game winning streak snapped with a 74-66 loss against host Iowa State and did not get off to a good start against Texas A&M (14-5, 3-5 Big 12) in this one. Everett converted a three-point play just 19 seconds after the opening tip, but Wright answered with a 3-pointer just 13 seconds later to spark a 17-1 run by the Aggies over the next five-plus minutes.
Texas A&M, which has lost 12 straight to Oklahoma, shot 52 percent (13-of-25) and led by as many as 16 points in the first half before Oklahoma went on a 23-9 burst over the final eight-plus minutes. Gray and Everett combined for 14 points over that stretch as the Sooners trailed just 34-32 at the half.
The teams traded baskets throughout the second half before Chris Walker's jumper gave Texas A&M a 57-53 lead with 6:47 remaining.
The Sooners outscored the Aggies, 16-8, over the final six-plus minutes.
Jaison Williams started the spree with a layup and Drew Lavender buried a 3-pointer with 5:36 remaining to give the Sooners the lead for good, 58-57.
Gray and Everett combined for seven of Oklahoma's final nine points. Everett's 3-pointer with 2:58 left gave the Sooners a 65-59 cushion.
Gray, who grabbed 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double, was 8-of-10 from the floor for the Sooners, who shot 47 percent (24-of-51).
Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson notched his 94th regular season win in the Big 12, matching former Kansas coach Roy Williams for the most in conference history.
POSTGAME QUOTES
OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH KELVIN SAMPSON
On the game: "There's a difference in competing and performing. If you watched us play the first five or 10 minutes, we weren't competing. My hat's off to Texas A&M. I thought they really played their hearts out. I was real impressed with their game plan. I thought we made some nice adjustments to get the ball into Taj (Gray). I thought we were tough in the last several minutes of the first half. There was some on-court adversity we had to overcome."
On the free throw shooting: "Our free throw shooting was really disappointing. Taj shot about 1,000 free throws this week. There's a difference in shooting them there than in the game. Free throws have not lost a game for us yet this year, but we want to make sure they don't in the future."
On the second half: "Our shot selection was excellent in the second half. It wasn't a great offensive performance. We did a great job of getting it inside, but we would miss the free throws and lose a possession. However, I'm proud of our team. They played A&M really tough. When you're playing a possession-by-possession game, you have to be tough. Our guys were really tough tonight."
On Terrell Everett: "I thought he played the toughest game he's played for us. It shows you his character and his heart. He hung in there and really played tough."
OKLAHOMA JUNIOR GUARD TERRELL EVERETT
On his aggressive play: "I knew I had to play physical tonight. The way the game was going for me, I wasn't playing to my potential in the beginning. I knew I had to step it up."
On the game: "Texas A&M is a tough team and we tried to play tougher than them as much as we could. Taj was down low and they couldn't stop him so we kept feeding him the ball. We also got stops when we needed to. There was some luck out there as well, but we played defense when we needed it most."
OKLAHOMA JUNIOR FORWARD TAJ GRAY
On the game's adversity: "We came out and had the mindset that we were going to play hard from the beginning. We knew that this was going to be a hard-fought game. Texas A&M is definitely a good team. They're physical and big and we knew we were going to be in a fight all night."
On his play: "I got good looks tonight because the guards were getting the ball inside to me and we were running our offense well. We knew that we were in a fight and by running our offense well, we were able to come away with a win in an adverse situation."
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY GILLISPIE:
On his team's play: "I am proud of our team tonight. They played as hard as they could even though they made a lot of mistakes. They love playing with each other and they love to play hard."
On the game: "I thought we were doing all right in transition. We were really pushing the ball and getting easy opportunities early. We didn't have to set up our half court offense. Once we did set up our half court offense, we made some really bad decisions. We made bad passes and totally lost our composure."
On turnovers: "We had too many forced turnovers and Oklahoma was able to get some baskets that we could not defend. They were having a hard time scoring at the start and then they finished off the first half off well after we threw the ball away."
TEXAS A&M FORWARD ANTOINE WRIGHT:
On tonight's game: "This was a very tough game to play tonight. This is as banged up as I've gotten in a game. OU is a very physical team. It is tough to fight through Kevin Bookout screens all night long. They do a great job of clogging up the lanes and Taj Gray is really good at coming over and blocking shots."
On Oklahoma's guard play: "Drew Lavender is a very tough point guard who can dominate a game without even scoring. I was really impressed with Terrell Everett tonight. He hit a big three in the second half. Everett is a real aggressive player."
TEXAS A&M CENTER JOSEPH JONES:
On TAMU's defensive gameplan: "We played man-to-man defense all night. We are a man-to-man team. We've been working really hard in practice to guard the post. We are working at having a better showing every night."