Texas A&M
(#22) OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma 45, Texas A&M 44
Jan 14, 2006 | Men's Basketball
January 14, 2006
Terrell Everett hit a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left and No. 22 Oklahoma avoided an 0-3 start in the Big 12 with a 45-44 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday.
Everett scored 15 points and Taj Gray added 13 for the Sooners (10-4, 1-2), who beat A&M for the 13th straight time and 24th in 25 meetings. Oklahoma lost its first two conference games by a total of three points, both in the final seconds.
Acie Law scored 14 points for the Aggies (11-3, 1-2), who lost for the first time in 12 home games this season.
The Aggies went 5 minutes without a field goal in the second half, but consecutive 3-pointers by Chris Walker gave them a 42-40 lead heading into the last 3 minutes.
Gray was called for an offensive foul near the 1-minute mark and Law dribbled patiently as the shot clock wound down on A&M's ensuing possession. Walker got the ball near the top of the key and found Marlon Pompey for a fadeaway jumper just before the shot clock expired.
Everett scored on a pull-up jumper with 25 seconds left to quickly quiet the rowdy crowd at Reed Arena.
Pompey missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 17 seconds to go and Everett coolly swished the go-ahead 3 from the wing.
Joseph Jones drove the length of the floor at the end, but slipped in the lane as he attempted a layup at the buzzer.
The Aggies finished 17-of-46 from the field (37 percent), including 6-of-19 from 3-point range.
Oklahoma went 12 minutes without a field goal in the first half and was lucky to trail only 22-17 at the break.
The Sooners committed 13 turnovers in the opening half and shot almost as poorly from the field (5-of-15) as they did from the free throw line (6-of-15).
The Aggies, meanwhile, played most of the first half without Jones, their leading scorer, who picked up two early fouls and didn't play again until the second half.
Oklahoma's offense finally started to look better 5 minutes into the second half.
Kevin Bookout scored inside to start a 13-3 burst and Everett's fadeaway with 8:04 left gave Oklahoma a 37-34 lead. Jones had a putback and a free throw during the spurt, but the rest of the Aggies missed eight straight shots.
The Sooners led 40-36 when Walker swished a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:38 left, the Aggies' first 3-pointer in 12 minutes. Walker sneaked to an opening on the wing a minute later and hit another 3-pointer to put the Aggies up by two.
Postgame Quotes
TEXAS A&M SENIOR CHRIS WALKER: "Our bread and butter was to get the ball to Joseph Jones inside. They have two very outstanding post defenders in Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout. That made it harder on us, and we had to make adjustments. We would like to win. You always want to win. We have a lot of character and we pride ourselves on our toughness. I am not worried about our ability to to bounce back. We will get this out of our system tonight and we will be back ready to practice."
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR ACIE LAW: "The last play we planned on me getting it in and then cutting up the middle and getting it back. They did a good job of denying me the ball and Joseph Jones saw that and if they denied me he was supposed to take the ball and make a play. He got to the basket but couldn't make the play. If we get stops defensively we are not too worried about our offense. We just try to create some easy baskets off of turnovers and good defense. We got open looks but weren't able to knock them home. It ended up getting us in the end."
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY GILLISPIE: "Tough loss. We were really bad on offense. We have to credit their defense. Both teams played hard enough to win. Not a great deal of offense on either side. Again you have to credit the defense. That last play, Joseph Jones made a smart play. We just were not able to get it back to Acie Law. We had planety of time, we just were not able to convert. That was a tough one.
(on Marlon Pompey getting fouled) "They fouled him quickly. I could have taken a risk and taken a timeout, but I was confident that Marlon Pompey would make his free throw. It is harder to get the ball in bounds after a timeout than it is to make a free throw. We played terrible zone offense. We just stood around and watched. We are in the Big 12. It is a 16 game schedule. We play the next game just like we played the one tonight. You play them all the same and add them up in the end. We are in the Big 12 this is just the way games are. I like our team. The competition in the Big 12 is great. Give them some credit. It was a great game. They hit a three-pointer at the end. We gave up rebounds and missed six lay-ups in the second half, three in the last five minutes. We can't do that and expect to win. There are a lot of great coaches in the league, but more importantly there are some really good players. Preparation is easy, but converting is hard. That is what is so fun about it. We were right there, we just have to convert."
OKLAHOMA GUARD TERRELL EVERETT: "When they were up by four points, I knew we were down two possessions, and that we had to get a quick two. I just was lucky to hit that fade away. At the end, Acie Law went under the screen so I stepped back and took the three and it fell for me."
OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: "Some times you have to go with who is feeling it. In the second half, we did a good job of running our stuff and moving the ball. This was a players game and the players wone it. We had to dominate the foul line, and even though we were eight of 18, we got their 18 times and that makes you happy. Jones is good. We caught a break when he got in foul trouble in the first half. In the second half we were able to play OU basketball. We played tough, we played with great determination. This was a very important game for us. Not just because we avoided going 0-3, but it is good to win and then have a week off to practice. We could easily be 3-0, that is the Big 12. You are not always as good as you play, but you are never as bad as you play either."
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
- OU's 45 points were the fewest ever by an A&M opponent in Big 12 play. The previous mark set set in 1999, when the Aggies beat Texas Tech, 68-47, at Reed Arena.
- OU's 45 points were the fewest A&M's allowed in a loss since 1991, when the Aggies fell to SMU, 44-38, in Dallas.
- The loss ends A&M's 11-game home winning streak.
- Acie Law scored 14 points. He's scored in double figures in all but one game this season (he had 8 in just 8 minutes when he went out with a concussion vs. Grambling)
- Chris Walker scored 10 points, a career-high for a Big 12 game and his second most in any game. He scored 12 last year vs. UT-Permian Basin.
- A&M made a season-low four free throws with a season-low 8 attempts. The Aggies came into the game averaging 19.5 free throws made per game, the most in the Big 12 and second most nationally behind Gonzaga (19.7).
- A&M shot a season-low 37.0 percent from the field.
