OU Advances To Elite Eight With Win Over Texas A&M

Oklahoma came up big in the Sweet 16 with a 77-63 win over Texas A&M.

Game Synopsis

OU got the tip and scored the first basket with a hard dunk from Khadeem Lattin, but the Aggies answered back with a layup from Danuel House.

Texas A&M soon stole a 13-6 lead with 15:24 left of the first. At this point, the Sooners looked good in the paint but couldn’t get a jumper to fall.

A layup from Sooner star Buddy Hield a.k.a Buddy Buckets marked his 65th point of the NCAA Tournament, tallying more points than his first three appearances.

After trailing, the Sooners went on a 12-5 run to speed things up. 

With just under 12 minutes before intermission, Texas A&M and OU exchanged threes from DJ Hogg and Christian James to tie the game 18-all. 

The Aggies were shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from long range while OU recorded eight big-time bench points.

A few more scores from Jordan Woodard, Hield and Lattin helped the Sooners to a 24-20 lead.

The Sooners didn’t stop there; they took advantage of the Aggies six turnovers and went on a 6-0 run, advancing their lead 32-22 at the 6:36 mark, their largest lead of the game.

Hield heated up and sunk OU’s sixth trey on 11 attempts to put the Sooners up 43-24. Woodard was also on fire, snagging his 14th point making the game look like the Hield-Woodard show as OU carried a 45-26 lead into halftime.

Halftime Stats

FG%: Sooners- 50, Aggies- 34

3FG%: Sooners- 55, Aggies- 29

REBS: Sooners- 22, Aggies- 18

TOs: Sooners- 4, Aggies- 10

Opening the second half, A&M attempted to cut its deficit but still trailed with 14 minutes before the final (56-43).

On the other end, the Sooners were rolling, taking advantage of most every offensive possession. 

With four minutes left to play, Woodard nailed his fifth three-pointer, recording a game-high 20 points and elevating the Sooner lead to 20 (75-55).

Oklahoma wrapped the game with a 77-63 victory, advancing to the Elite Eight. 

Woodard led the Sooners in scoring with 22 points.

The Sooners will now face Oregon for a trip to the Final Four on Saturday at 5:09 p.m.