Published Jan 8, 2025
Massive rally pushes A&M past OU, 80-78
Mark Passwaters  •  AggieYell
Publisher
Twitter
@mbpRivals

Chad Cross, a DFW native, began his career in the roofing industry in 1996. Out of a desire to provide quality and excellence in customer service, Chad launched his own company, CLC Roofing, Inc. in 1999. Chad is a second-generation Aggie, a member of the Class of ‘94 and was a member of the Corps of Cadets Squadron 12. Chad is married to wife Lynee ‘95 and they have 3 Aggie sons: Cade ‘22, Carson ‘25 and Chase ‘27. Chad enjoys playing golf, reading, watching sports and spending time with family at their home in Southlake, Texas. As multi-sport season ticket holders, Chad and Lynee are blessed to spend a lot of time in Aggieland attending Aggie sports events.Chad has more than 25 years of experience in the roofing industry, including sales, project management, manufacturer representation, as well as catastrophe adjusting. Chad and his team at CLC Roofing, Inc. strive to make sure clients just like you receive the level of excellence in service and workmanship that you deserve! For your roofing needs, contact Chad Cross at (972) 304-4431 or info@clcroofing.com and mention Aggieyell.com.

Advertisement

NORMAN, OKLA. -- Playing without All-SEC point guard Wade Taylor, No. 10 Texas A&M erased an 18-point deficit with a huge second half rally to stun No. 17 Oklahoma 80-78 Wednesday night before 7,604 shocked Sooners fans at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Picking up the scoring slack in Taylor's absence, guard Zhuric Phelps had the game of his career, scoring 34 points, including six of 10 from three-point range. His final three of the night, with 19 seconds remaining, proved to be the margin of victory.

For most of the night, the idea that the Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) would be anywhere close to taking the lead from the Sooners (13-2, 0-2 SEC) seemed ludicrous. Behind an amazing three-point shooting barrage from Brycen Goodine, OU was up 30-16 with less than 11 minutes gone in the game. At that point, Goodine -- who averaged just 5.9 points per game coming into the evening -- had already scored 17. He would end the half with 21 points, but the Aggies had slowly whittled Oklahoma's lead to just 39-30 at intermission.

Still, the stat sheet looked dire for A&M after 20 minutes, as they had made just 10 of 29 shots, including just one of seven three-pointers, had turned the ball over five times and had seven shots blocked. OU, on the other hand, had shot 57% from the field and 56% from three, giving the Aggies little cause for optimism.

The Sooners hit the gas again coming out of the locker room, going on a 13-2 run in the first three minutes of the second half. After a three-pointer by Jason Moore (11 points) with exactly 17 minutes remaining, OU was up 51-33 and the Aggies looked like the were on the verge of being blown out of the building.

But A&M responded with a scoring run of their own, starting with a three from Solomon Washington (11 points) and a layup and three-pointer by Phelps. OU would push their lead back to 14, but the Aggies plugged away again with a 9-2 run that was capped by another three from Phelps to make the score 58-50 with 11:13 to go in the game.

Oklahoma got their lead back up to 10 after a pair of threes by Goodine, who would end up scoring 34 points on the night, but Phelps came right back with a jumper and a three of his own. OU was able to get their lead back to double-digits one last time with 8:25 left, but the Aggie defense finally rode to the rescue and clamped down on the hot-shooting Sooners.

OU would go nearly seven minutes without a basket from the field as Phelps continued his hot shooting.

After a dunk by Pharrel Payne (10 points) cut Oklahoma’s lead to nine with 8:10 left, Phelps hit back-to-back threes and scored on a driving layup to cut OU’s lead to one with 6:12 remaining. After two missed threes and a steal by A&M’s Hayden Hefner (8 points), Washington gave A&M a 71-70 lead with 5:10 left with a slam on the ensuring fast break.

After OU reclaimed a one-point lead, Jace Carter, who scored nine points after halftime, hit his only three to put the Aggies up 74-72 with 4:02 left. After Andersson Garcia scored his three points on the night on a tip-in and a free throw, the Aggies were up five with less than three minutes to go.

But, as A&M tends to do, they went into a late-half scoring swoon. Oklahoma went on a 6-0 run over the next 1:44, taking a 78-77 lead on Sam Godwin’s layup with 1:05 remaining. Phelps and Washington both missed shots on the Aggies’ next possession, and a foul on point guard Jeremiah Fears sent the Sooners to the other end for a one-and-one with 29 seconds left. Fears missed the front end, and Washington grabbed the rebound.

Phelps brought the ball upcourt and, after a jab step caused OU’s Glenn Taylor to lose his balance, Phelps sank an uncontested three to give the Aggies a two-point edge with 19 seconds left.

The Sooners, who were out of timeouts, got one more shot, but Miles Duke missed badly and Godwin threw Garcia to the court to draw an offensive foul. That was the death knell for the Sooners, who shot 54.3% for the game, 58.3% from three and still managed to lose. After their dreadful first half, the Aggies made 17 of 32 field goals and half of their 16 three-pointers to pull a victory from the jaws of what appeared to be near-certain defeat.

Game notes

Phelps, who entered the game shooting just 32.7% from three-point range, was the only Aggie to hit more than one triple. Hefner, Carter and Washington had the other three.

The Aggies out-rebounded the Sooners 32-27 and dominated on the offensive glass 17-8.

A&M made two more field goals than OU, but had 15 more attempts.

Solomon Washington led the Aggies with six rebounds, but Henry Coleman III, Phelps and Garcia all had five apiece.

A&M scored 30 points off of 18 Oklahoma turnovers. The Aggies, on the other hand, have only turned it over a total of 16 times in the last two games.

A&M made 17 of 22 free throw attempts, while OU made 14 of 17.

For the second straight conference game, the Aggies dominated in the paint, outscoring Oklahoma 36-20.

Senior Manny Obaseki moved into the starting lineup in Taylor's absence and scored two points on one of five shooting. But he led the Aggies with four assists and did not turn the ball over while handling much of the point guard duties.