Unlike the earlier January matchup between these two teams when the Aggies overcame an 18-point second-half deficit to win by two, the game on Tuesday night at 13,000-seat Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, was a relatively tight affair throughout.
A&M (16-5, 5-3) led by a single point, 31-30, at the half. The Aggies stretched the lead to six points in the early moments of the second half but never led by more than eight points the remainder of the game.
Oklahoma knew from the previous Texas A&M game that rebounding and turnovers would be keys to Tuesday's rematch.
The Sooners committed a season-high 18 turnovers in the first game. They had 13 turnovers against the tenacious, scrambling A&M defense on Tuesday. Unfortunately, three of those turnovers came in the critical final four minutes of the game after OU had whittled the Texas A&M advantage down to just two points.
The Sooners' rebounding struggles were exploited even further the second time around. The Aggies held a five-rebound advantage in the game in Norman. On Tuesday night, however, the A&M advantage on the boards was a smothering plus-21. And that was without Texas A&M's best rebounder, Solomon Washington, who did not play in the game.
Oklahoma did a good job of forcing Texas A&M to take contested shots and held the Aggies to a shooting percentage of 37.5 for the game and just 26.9% in the first half. A&M was just 4 of 24 on 3-pointers in the game but cashed in on multiple second-chance opportunities.
All five Texas A&M starters scored in double figures, led by Zhuric Phelps with 15 points. Wade Taylor IV, who missed the first game between the two teams with an injury, contributed a dozen points.
The loss dropped the Oklahoma men to 15-5 overall and 2-5 in the conference. The Sooners return to Lloyd Noble Center to host No. 24 Vanderbilt in the second of five straight games against SEC opponents ranked in the top 25.
1. A&M's size, physicality overpowers Oklahoma on offensive glass
Texas A&M definitively lived up to its ranking as the top offensive rebounding team in Division-I basketball. The Aggies grabbed a season-high 47 rebounds against Oklahoma, 21 of which were at the offensive end, tying the season high against the Sooners this season. That compares to 19 total rebounds by OU and just two of the offensive variety.
The rebounding margin was plus-28 favoring the Aggies. A&M's 21 offensive rebounds were converted into 20 second-chance points. The Sooners converted just two second-chance points. Set. Match. Game over.
2. Sooners shoot 13 fewer free throws than Texas A&M
Oklahoma is the best free throw-shooting team in the SEC, and the Sooners made 22 trips to the free-throw line against Texas A&M, making 16 of 22.
Texas A&M shot 15 more free throws (37) on Tuesday night and made 29 of them. That adds up to 49 points off of free throws and second-chance points alone. Hard to overcome that many bonus scoring opportunities regardless of who you are playing.
3. Brycen Goodine's 3-point shooting eye back on target
Texas A&M brings out the best in Oklahoma's Brycen Goodine. The Fairfield transfer scored a season-high 34 points in the first game this season against the Aggies, including six of nine 3-point shots.
On Tuesday night, he continued right where he left off in the game earlier this month. Goodine was five of nine from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 24 points.
His 24-point performance on Tuesday night was only the fourth time in 17 games this season that Goodine has scored in double figures. It was well timed, however, because freshman Jeremiah Fears, the Sooners' second leading scorer, was shut out, going 0-for-5 from the field and no rebounds in 18 minutes of action. It was only the second time this season that the true freshman failed to reach double figures in scoring.