The Oklahoma Sooners were on fire in the first half and for the first 10 minutes of the second half as they built an 18-point lead against the No. 9/10 Texas A&M Aggies.
But the Aggies defense stiffened up and limited the Sooners to just eight points in the final 8 1/2 minutes of the game to waste an electric performance from guard [autotag]Brycen Goodine[/autotag].
Goodine led the Sooners with 34 points on 10 of 14 shooting, including nine threes, but Oklahoma failed to take advantage.
After losing their big second-half lead, the Sooners scratched their way back in front to lead by one with just under 30 seconds to play. True freshman star [autotag]Jeremiah Fears[/autotag] went to the foul line for a one-and-one with a chance to put the Sooners up three but missed the front half.
And Oklahoma had no answer for Zhuric Phelps, who matched Goodine with 34 points. On the possession after Fears’ free throw miss, Phelps shook Glen Taylor Jr. and hit a wide-open three to put the Aggies up two. The Sooners still had one more possession to try to tie the game, but Oklahoma failed to find a shot as Duke Miles floater missed the mark with two seconds to play.
The Sooners turned the ball over 10 times in the second half and were outrebounded again, including by nine on the offensive boards.
It’s a disappointing result for a Sooners squad that was hoping to rebound from its blowout loss to Alabama. The Sooners failed to close as they’ve done often during the Porter Moser era. Now, OU falls to 0-2 in SEC play and has lost two straight since starting the season 13-0.
Next up for the Sooners is a trip to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs.
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