Coming off a tough loss to Kansas State, the Oklahoma Sooners (12-15, 4-9) traveled to College Station to take on the 21st ranked Texas A&M Aggies (22-5, 9-4). The Sooners were able to keep it competitive for the entire first half and a little in the 2nd, but in the end the Aggies proved too much for them, winning 61-47.
The Sooners kept it close throughout the first, leading by as many as five and trailing by no less than three in the half. Thanks to some physical defense and some key offensive plays by senior Cade Davis, the Sooners surprisingly found themselves with a one point halftime lead.
At the start of the second, things took a turn for the worse. The Aggies began the half on a 13-0 run to quickly turn a one point Oklahoma lead into a 12 Aggie lead. Later in the half, a moment of hope appeared as Cade Davis converted a 4 point play to cut the Aggie lead to 6, and a Cameron Clark layup followed, cutting the margin to just four. However, this hope was short lived as on the ensuing Aggie possession, Ray Turner made a hook jumper that sparked an11-0 Texas A&M run. From that point on, the Aggies never looked back going on to win 61-47.
Cade Davis pours in 21 in the Sooner loss
My Player of the Game: It has to be Cade Davis. The Sooner senior led all scorers with 21 points and was the Sooners leading rebounder with 7. He has been key for the Sooners in the past few games, and it’s a shame, for his sake, that they couldn’t at least pull one win out.
Game Notes and Thoughts:
- Rebounding: Normally I criticize the Sooners for this, but tonight they seemed active on the boards and to show for it were only out-rebounded by 3 against a much more physical Aggie team.
- Ball Management: Once again this has got to get better tonight the Sooners had an assist to turnover ratio of 3:4.
- Lack of Scoring Balance: Davis and Clark accounted for over half (30) of the Sooners points. While Tyler Neal and Steven Pledger shot a combined 0-10 from the field this evening.
- Free Throws: Both teams had an off night from the stripe shooting 59% each.
- 2nd Half Shooting: Oklahoma shot 40% from the field in the first compared to just 28% in the second.
- Final Assessment: The Sooners simply had a good first half followed by an awful 2nd half. Overall hopefully this serves as a good lesson to this inexperienced squad that in order to win games you have to finish what you started. My Grade: C+
Next up the Sooners will be back in Norman to face the Kansas Jayhawks on Feb. 26th. Tip off is set for 3 PM CST. Well thats all for this game review! Boomer Sooner!