Sooners wither late under Texas A&M relentless defensive pressure

For a good part of the second half on Saturday, it appeared that Oklahoma was going to be in the game to the end and not about to wilt under Texas A&M's relentless full-court defensive intensity.

Texas A&M overcame a spirited Oklahoma second-half run and held off the Sooners in the critical final moments to claim an 83-76 win and the Aggies' third straight victory to begin SEC play. Meanwhile, Oklahoma dropped to 1-2 in conference play, suffering its second straight loss, and to 11-5 overall.

Sooners drop second SEC game

With the Sooners leading 70-69 and just under seven minutes left in the game, the A&M pressure finally took its fateful and final toll. The Aggies mounted a deciding 10-1 run, turning a one-point deficit into a 79-71 advantage. OU was able to close within three points with one minute remaining, but a costly traveling call on Kuol Atak with just 38 seconds to go and the Sooners down five proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

The opening half was highlighted by a series of runs by both teams, ending in a 48-45 Texas A&M halftime advantage. The Sooners were obviously bothered by A&M's full-court pressure, committing several five-second backcourt violations and 11 of its 17 turnovers for the game in the first 20 minutes. OU was able to fight back and keep the game close going into halftime despite falling behind by as many as nine points a couple of different times in the first half.

Nigel Pack led the Sooners with a game-high 24 points, including six 3-pointers. Derrion Reid added 19, along with a season-high 11 rebounds. Four Texas A&M starters scored in double figures, led by USC transfer Rashaun Agee's 16 points.

This game reflected the new age of college basketball with nine of the 10 players who started the game for both teams transfers who are in their first season with their respective teams.

The Sooners will get another crack at Texas A&M this season and a chance to even the score. The two teams will play in Norman on Feb. 21.

Following back-to-back SEC road losses, Oklahoma returns home for a pair of games this week. The Sooners host defending national champion Florida (11-5, 2-1) on Tuesday and will welcome No. 13 Alabama to Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.

Here are three takeaways that go a long way toward telling the story of the Oklahoma game on Saturday against Texas A&M.

"Bucky Ball" speeds Sooners up and into costly miscues

It was fairly obvious from the start that Oklahoma was bothered by Texas A&M's speed-'em-up, full-court pressure style of play, which it likes to call "Bucky Ball." The Aggies' defensive pressure forced the Sooners into a season-high 17 turnovers, which led directly to 18 A&M points. A couple of times in the opening half, OU was whistled for five-second violations for not being able to get the ball past midcourt in the allotted time. Oklahoma entered the game with Texas A&M committing an SEC-best average of 9.5 turnovers per game, which ranked 13th nationally.

Ironically, this fast-paced, 40-minutes-of-havoc approach to the game is what contributed to Oklahoma to winning so many games in the 1980s and early '90s under Billy Tubbs.

Bench scoring disparity plagues OU for a second straight game

Earlier this week, in an Oklahoma blowout loss at Mississippi State, a big factor in the Sooners' disappointing performance could be attributed to bench production. The OU reserves in the Mississippi State game contributed just three points compared to 20 scored by the opposition's bench players. It wasn't a whole lot better on Saturday at Texas A&M. The Sooners managed nine points from the reserves, but A&M's deep rotation contributed 26 points off the bench.

The Oklahoma bench players are certainly capable of better offensive production. They contributed 33 in the Sooners' 86-70 home win a week ago against Ole Miss.

Statistically speaking, Oklahoma won in several important areas

Except for the glaring discrepancy in turnovers and points off of turnovers, which was a deciding factor in Texas A&M's win over Oklahoma, the Sooners held an advantage in several other important statistical categories. OU out-rebounded the Aggies by 11 (43-32) and pulled down 16 offensive rebounds to 12 by Texas A&M. The Sooners' 16 offensive boards resulted in 18 second-chance points, compared to just seven by A&M. Oklahoma shot 35.5% from 3-point range (11 of 31), while holding the SEC's second-best 3-point shooting team to 30.3% (10 of 33).

In a bit of a statistical anomaly, both teams attempted 62 field goals and made 26 of them for an identical shooting percentage of 41.9%. That's almost an 11% improvement over the season-low 30.0% (17-55) Oklahoma shot in the loss earlier in the week against Mississippi State.