Texas A&M
17-5, 3-4
Oklahoma State
13-7, 2-4
Aggies Knock Off Oklahoma State. 76-64
Jan 31, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2009
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Head Coach Turgeon
Players Carter, Davis, & Sloan
OSU Players Moses & Harris
OSU Head Coach Ford
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (AP) -Bryan Davis had 18 points to lead four Texas A&M players in double figures and the Aggies got a 76-64 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday.
The Aggies led by 14 at halftime, but allowed the Cowboys to get within two points midway through the second half on a 3-point play by Terrel Harris. Donald Sloan then hit a jumper, got fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to put Texas A&M (17-5, 3-4 Big 12 Conference) comfortably ahead.
Texas A&M made 11 free throws in the last five minutes to secure the win.
Oklahoma State (13-7, 2-4), which has lost four of its last five, was led by Harris with 17 points.
The Aggies, who lost to the Cowboys 72-61 earlier this season, have won two straight and are 13-1 at home this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES AND NOTES
A&M HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon
"Obviously, I'm really proud of our group today. For 34 or 35 minutes we were fantastic on defense. In the start of the second half we let down a little bit, which we have a tendency to do. But I was really proud of our group. We handled their traps and played aggressively. We executed, shot the ball well and took good shots, but our defense and rebounding were the difference. They are so hard to guard. I told the team after game that even though we started league play slowly, we had been getting better. But our attitude is good. You can see we're getting better. And that's encouraging.
(on switching defensively) "We did a lot more of that. We kept the game plan real simple and just took our chances. No matter what you do on ball screens, they have good players. We did a much better job of controlling Eaton, which is really hard to do. I thought Chin (Elonu) and Bryan (Davis) did a good job. We played much better team defense here than we did there. We got caught up in their team personnel up there and didn't play good team defense. And tonight we did."
(on the spark Nathan Walkup gave) "I thought we were walking on eggshells and playing tentative, and we put Nate in the game and I thought he gave us a lift. I am really proud of him. He sat on the bench the whole game, and for him to come in and play the way he did...that's what being a team is all about. I thought tonight we were a team. Our guys understand that, and we're maturing as a team. Everyone was happy in the locker room. That was a really good win for us. It was a good week and we had to have it."
(on the play of BD and Josh Carter) "We did a great job of recognizing their traps, plus they played zone and that opens stuff up for Josh. I think Bryan tries so hard sometimes that he makes mistakes. We want him to relax and play within himself, and he's done that last two games. Josh got good looks and was more aggressive. The `big three' (Davis, Sloan, Carter) played well tonight."
(on the bench points and the confidence that gives) "If you look at our minutes...I played Sloan a little too much, but the starters didn't get a lot of minutes. That's good. That'll help keep us fresh. I have a lot of confidence in our bench. Coaches coach to win games. You just keep figuring it out, and hope you have enough players to figure it out with. And I have a lot of confidence in every one of the guys we have over there."
A&M SENIOR GUARD/FORWARD Josh Carter
"Up there (Stillwater) it was a struggle (for me). I got in foul trouble early and didn't play much the first half. I couldn't get in the flow and to get started early was good for me. It gave me confidence today." (on handling OSU's press) "We were a lot more confident. We prepared for it a lot. Everyone kind of did pretty well I thought. We just did a lot better job than we did up there."
(on switching defensively) "We didn't want to let Byron (Eaton) get going. He is a great player. We try to switch more and keep him in front of us and not let him get easy angles to the basket."
(on the week and the Big 12 race) "This week was real big. We knew we had to come in and play well to get the two wins. It was big for us and hopefully it will get us going and keep our confidence high. We never felt like we were out (of the Big 12 race). We knew that stretch was going to be difficult. We know you have to protect the home court in the Big 12, and for us to get two wins at home was a must. We were happy to be able to do it."
(on slowing down OSU's three-point attack) "I think we were playing with more energy on defense and were flying around. There were times they had open looks, but our guys were able to close down a bit."
A&M JUNIOR FORWARD Bryan Davis
(on handling OSU's press) "This past week we put a lot of emphasis on not turning the ball over in that situation. Early in the first half they were allowing the pass back to the guard, but in the second half they weren't. We did good job of recognizing it. Other than one time I think, we handled it pretty well."
(on what holding OSU to a season-low point total says) "It says we really locked down on defense. The big part about that is that they are a team that scores lot of second-chance points, and we limited that. We were able to beat them on the defensive boards."
A&M JUNIOR GUARD Donald Sloan
(on switching defensively) "That was the strategy we came into the game with. We knew it would come down to guarding the ball, and I think we did a pretty good job of that today."
(on getting two wins this week) "Like coach said, we are thinking of it as a new season. We started with Tech and went 1-0, and this made it 2-0. It gives us momentum going into a game against a very good Oklahoma team. The next couple of days in practice we're going to focus and try to lock down like we did the last two games
OSU HEAD COACH TRAVIS FORD
"They did great on us defensively. When we shoot such a low percentage, and they shoot 49%, you are not going to win many games. The way they were switching on defense, it gave our guys less time to set up our plays. So we had to tell our guys to keep running the play. They did a great job against the press. There was a lot of pressure on our defense, due to us missing our shots. We looked very tired today, I don't know why, we just played tired basketball. Eaton was our best player today. He had a great pass first, shoot second mentality. He does everything we ask of him, and then he doesn't get help from the other guys around him.
OSU SOPHOMORE GUARD/FORWARD MARSHALL MOSES
"We have got to keep getting better. People say we are good at making three's, but coach is telling us that we have to keep improving, because we will always have days like today where they don't come as easy. They got a lot of the easy shots, and capitalized on them."
OSU SENIOR GUARD TERREL HARRIS
"Our guards were off today. We weren't making our open looks. Our rebounding wasn't there either. The did a lot of switching on defense, and that really thre us off. Their big guys were moving to the ball, and as small of a team as we are, we should have been able to take advantage of that, and we didn't. They did a lot of paassing inside, which helped them to score. Last time we did a lot of pressing, and this time they were ready for it. We had a couple of times in the game today where we could have made a good run, but we could never finish."
A&M NOTES *Bryan Davis scored 18 points, matching his season high (18 vs. Rice on 12/31).
*Josh Carter scored 17 points after going scoreless against OSU three weeks ago in Stillwater. Carter also added 7 rebounds, on shy of his season best, and matched his season high with 4 assists.
*Donald Sloan scored 15 points, his fifth best total of the season.
*B.J. Holmes has made at least one three-pointer in 20 straight games, the third longest streak in school history.
*A&M is 13-1 at home this season and has won 54 of its last 60 home games, including 19 of its last 25 in Big 12 play.
*Mark Turgeon is 42-16 at A&M, the best start in school history and the second best in Big 12 history. Kansas Bill Self was 45-13 after 58 games in 2003-05.
*A&M is 12-0 this season when its opponent scores fewer than 67 points.
*A&M is 32-4 under Mark Turgeon when it makes at least 45 percent from the field.
*Freshman David Loubeau scored 10 points with 4 rebounds (all offensive), his second straight game in double figures. He scored 11 points with 8 rebounds on Wednesday against Texas Tech.
*A&M made 49.0 percent from the field, its best since it made 50.0 percent against LSU on 12/20.
*OSU made just 38.1 percent from the field, the lowest percentage by an A&M opponent since Sam Houston State made 33.3 percent on 12/28.
