University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Grabs Fifth Straight Win

February 03, 2001 | Men's Basketball

By: Athletics Communications

Feb. 3, 2001

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)- Coach Kelvin Sampson found plenty of room for improvement after No. 24 Oklahoma beat Texas A&M 72-63 Saturday for its fifth straight win.

The Sooners (17-4, 6-3 Big 12) won despite being outrebounded 32-23, giving up 15 offensive boards and 16 second-chance points.

Oklahoma relied on free-throw shooting and 22 points from Aaron McGhee to hand the Aggies (6-15, 0-9) their ninth straight loss.

"Texas A&M's first shot didn't hurt us today. It was their second shot and third shot," Sampson said. "One of the things in our four-game winning streak that I've been pleased with is defensive rebounding."

Saturday, Oklahoma pulled down just 12 defensive rebounds.

A 16-for-16 second-half performance from the foul line and just seven turnovers allowed Oklahoma to overcome A&M's 47 percent shooting and rebounding edge.

"I really liked the way we took care of the ball and made free throws," Sampson said. "If you can do those two things consistently, it makes it a lot easier."

The Sooners had controlled the boards during the previous four games after being an underdog on the glass most of the season.

"It's toughness," Sampson said. "I didn't like our toughness inside the paint. It's an attitude. But we were smart, we took care of the ball and made our free throws."

During that four-game stretch, Oklahoma's rebounding leader has been Nolan Johnson, who grabbed a season-high 12 against Texas on Jan. 24. Against A&M, Johnson scored 11 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, but he failed to grab a single rebound in 22 minutes.

"I didn't go after them hard enough today," Johnson said. "Just point blank, I didn't get after them today."

J.R. Raymond scored 17 points and Hollis Price added 11 for Oklahoma.

Texas A&M was led by Bernard King with 18 points. Nick Anderson and Keith Bean each scored 10 points.

"I look at the rebounding and our shooting percentage," Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "There's not much more we can do with that. I can't be too disappointed in that. Every game is a tough game for us right now. We almost have to play perfect basketball, and that's tough for us."

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