On a night so much was right, Sooners still can't close the deal against Aggies

Author’s note: I was writing for my old newspaper again Wednesday night, covering Oklahoma-Texas A&M men’s hoops with a column for The Norman Transcript. A sportswriter’s nightmare, it had to be in by 11 p.m. and not only did the game not end until almost 10:15 p.m., it wasn’t clear who would win or lose until the buzzer, making it hard to write early. I actually sent a text to Transcript sports editor, Tarik Masri, that if they went overtime, I could not send him anything, as I’d have no time at all. By the way, The Oklahoman and Tulsa World do not face such problems any longer. They only write for the website and if it gets in the print edition, it comes in a day late or it comes in not as a “game story” but as a “follow.” Of the three, only the Transcript lets you wake up to coverage in the actual paper. Anyway, I had 750 words at 10:54 p.m. I then read it as carefully as I possibly could as fast as I possibly could. That took 10 minutes and I sent it at 11:04, too close to deadline (I think) to be kept out of the paper. For Oklahoma Columnist, I’ve managed to smooth out the rough edges with two or three additional reads. Thankfully, I only found one real “mistake” from the story I sent the paper, typing “you’re” rather than “your.” At least that’s the only one I think I sent the paper.

By the way, I’m not happy with the ending. Too abrupt and doesn’t tie back to the start.
Oh, well.

Enjoy.

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Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore, Mohamed Wague and Duke Miles defend against Texas A&M Wednesday night inside Lloyd Noble Center. The Aggies prevailed 80-78. (A&M Athletics Photo/Craig Bisacre)

What a waste.

What a horrendous, awful, terrible and ludicrous waste from Oklahoma inside Lloyd Noble Center Wednesday night.

Here was 10th-ranked Texas A&M.

Here was an opportunity to pull back to even in the SEC after a ridiculous loss at No. 5 Alabama with exactly the kind of game a good team’s supposed to go win on its home court.

Instead, after finding a way to win several times, withstanding every little run the Aggies put together, pushing the advantage back to 10 points and more again and again, coach Porter Moser’s fourth Oklahoma basketball team … well, it found a way to lose just like the three before it.

The final score was 80-78.

If you can believe it, the Sooner lead was 11 points with 8:25 remaining.

Of course, that was the moment all composure crumbled, OU (13-2, 0-2 SEC) turning the ball over on four of its next five possessions and five of its next eight, a span in which the Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) grabbed back the lead for the first time since the Sooners grabbed it, 8-6, on the first of Brycen Goodine’s 10 3-pointers.

Let’s start with that.

OU’s collapse torched a night in which Goodine came off the bench to hit 10 of 14 from long distance, putting him one made 3 off Brent Price’s program mark of 11, a record forged Dec. 15, 1990, against Loyola Marymount on the same day the Sooners and Lions combined to score a record 284 points.

Oh, how we miss Billy Tubbs and Billy Ball.

OU’s collapse also torched a night in which it shot the ball very well, hitting 54.3 percent (25 of 46) of its field goal attempts, 58.3 percent (14 of 24) of its 3-point attempts and 82.4 percent (14 of 17) of its free-throw attempts.

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Hi, it’s Clay. I hope you’ll stick with his column despite it being behind a paywall. I don’t do this often any more, but donations in the form of paid subscriptions are what keeps Oklahoma Columnist viable. If you find value in my work, I hope you’ll contribute to the effort. As always, thanks for reading.

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