NASHVILLE, Tenn. ā The third time was a charm for Oklahoma against Texas A&M. After losing a pair of close regular season contests to the Aggies, OU never trailed and dominated its second-round SEC Tournament game in 83-63 fashion at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.
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The victory for the Sooners (19-14) was their sixth straight and advanced them to the quarterfinals on Friday when they will face No. 3 seed Arkansas (23-8) at 8:30 p.m. CT.
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Oklahoma, which led by double digits for 32:34 and by at least 15 points for 25:58, got 20 points from
Nijel Pack, 16 from
Xzayvier Brown, 15 points and 10 rebounds from
Derrion Reid and 14 points, nine boards and a game-high four assists from
Tae Davis to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
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Mohamed Wague was also key for the Sooners, who have won eight of their last 10, contributing seven points, eight rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots.
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OU dominated in a variety of categories, including on the glass. It posted 48-33 rebounding advantage and had 19 offensive rebounds to A&M's 11. Even though the Aggies missed 37 shots, the Sooners outscored them 18-1 in second-chance points.
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Porter Moser's squad was also successful in taking care of the ball against A&M's vaunted full-court pressure. The Sooners committed just seven turnovers, the second fewest by an Aggies opponent on the year.
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Oklahoma picked up Thursday where it left off Wednesday in a win over South Carolina. After shooting 60% from the field against the Gamecocks, OU posted a 59% mark in the opening 20 minutes and built a commanding 49-27 advantage at the break. It marked the Sooners largest halftime lead against an SEC opponent in their two years in the league and Texas A&M's second-fewest points in a half this season.
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Included in the performance was a 21-3 run. After A&M scored a layup to cut OU's lead to 17-11 with 13:55 to go, Pack drilled his third triple to key an 11-0 run that was capped by
Jadon Jones and Brown 3-pointers. The Aggies stopped the bleeding with a 3 of their own, but Kirill Elatonsev and Pack scored on OU's next two possessions and Davis scored the next six for a 10-0 spurt and a 38-14 lead with 5:26 to go.
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With the Sooners still ahead by 22 with 18 minutes left in the second half, Texas A&M scored 10 straight points to seize momentum. But OU countered with a 10-2 run to go back up by 20 with 10:56 remaining and led by at least 16 the rest of the night.
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Nijel Pack made his first three 3-point field goal tries, all in the game's first seven minutes, and scored 15 points in the first half. He finished 4 for 10 from 3-point range and registered his third straight game of at least 20 points and fifth in the last six outings. He now has an SEC-high 22 performances of at least three 3-point makes this season, four more than the player with the next most.
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Reid's double-double was the second of his career. The other also came at Texas A&M (19 points and 11 boards).
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A&M shot just 38% from the field and became the seventh straight OU opponent to shoot less than 50% against the Sooners. The Aggies' 63 points tied for their fewest of the season.