Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball squeak out a hard-fought victory on the road tonight against the Oklahoma Sooners, 75-71. This makes a sweep of the Sooners on the season for the Aggies, as they beat them in Reed Arena earlier this year. With the win, the Aggies move to 19-8 overall, and 9-5 in the SEC. The Sooners will fall to an overall record of 13-14 and 3-11 in SEC play.
This was a big win for the Aggies. A likely quad 1 road win (if OU can stay in the top 75 NET) should certainly move the Aggies up a couple spots in the NET rankings, especially with how crazy of a day we've had in college basketball so far today.
Even if this doesn't end up being a quad 1 win come selection Sunday, this was a must-win game for the Aggies. With only 4 games left, 3 come against teams with a higher NET ranking and none of them will be easy.
Texas A&M basketball extends win streak to two with win over Oklahoma
The Aggies largely got it done with their shooting tonight and not turning the ball over. Despite only forcing 8 turnovers, the Aggies only gave the ball away 5 times themselves. Other than that, the Aggies just simply outshot the Sooners. It was only close because OU went 20-24 from the line. Could've been easier down the stretch if the Aggies could make some themselves as they went a horrible 11-20 from the line, but luckily for them, Oklahoma couldn't make a 2-point shot to save their life.
It's pretty rare that a team shoots better from 3 than they do from 2, but Oklahoma accomplished that feat tonight going 11-30 from beyond the arc, and only 9-31 from inside. The Aggies were very streaky shooting themselves tonight but 44% from the field, and 40% from 3 was good enough to get it done tonight.
The Aggies defense was absolutely superb tonight. They held Oklahoma's leading scorers, Nijel Pack and Xzayvier Brown, to a combined 16 points, when they average around 32 combined per game. Rebounding definitely could've been better, losing the battle 44-39, but it was certainly much better than the first time they took on the Sooners. Rebounding down the stretch was huge for the Aggies as to not allow the Sooners extra chances to tie the game late.
The stars of the night for the Aggies were once again, Rashaun Agee and Rylan Griffen. Agee led the team once again with an 18-point, 7 rebound performance while Griffen followed him up with 14 points and 5 rebounds of his own. When these two can get going, the Aggies can play with anyone.
Despite no one else really lighting up the stat sheet, the rest of the team all did their parts. Ten Aggies scored tonight with 9 of them scoring at least 4 points. Some unsung heroes were Marcus Hill, Zach Clemence, and Pop Isaacs.
Clemence did it all tonight putting up 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Marcus Hill didn't have the best scoring night but still put up 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists of his own. Lastly, despite only playing 15 minutes, Pop Issacs was very efficient going 2-3 from the field for 6 points and adding 2 more rebounds as well.
The Aggies will be back in action as they travel to Fayetville to take on Arkansas on Wednesday. Arkansas is one of the hottest teams in the country, but they provide an excellent opportunity for the Aggies to basically cement themselves in the NCAA tournament field. Check back on Tuesday for my full preview of the upcoming matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks.