COLLEGE STATION – Oklahoma State had a big “Takeaway” of its own on Saturday in Reed Arena: The Cowboys for the most part took away Texas A&M’s top player, Josh Nebo, and the result was a double-digit OSU victory in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Nebo still finished with 11 points, a little below his season average, but he also was hardly a factor with five field-goal attempts, as the Cowboys packed the lane and dared the Aggies to beat them elsewhere. The plan worked.
“We tried to take as much space away from him as possible and keep bodies around him,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “He’s too much to handle for one guy.”
It’s a scheme SEC teams are sure to give a shot moving forward, considering the Cowboys handed the Aggies their second consecutive double-digit home loss. A handful of additional observations from an A&M loss to a Big 12 team that had dropped its six prior games – albeit in a better basketball league this season:
Unpredictability
Unreliability. Inconsistency. However you want to put it, the Aggies possess it. They can go on the road and handily beat Vanderbilt, but then return home and lose to LSU and South Carolina.
They can go on the road and edge Missouri, but return home and get blown out – and the Cowboys led by 21 with about seven minutes left in this one – by a former Big 12 foe.
A&M first-year coach Buzz Williams is big on a rigid daily schedule and a short-term plan and a long-term plan and even a middlin’-plan, so the Aggies’ Jekyll and Hyde act is driving him a bit bananas.
Williams dubbed himself “immature” on Saturday for believing the Aggies would be more reliable game in and game out as the season has worn on. He’s being hard on himself – the only thing that will make the Aggies more predictable in their approach (and finish) is time in his unforgiving system.
His steadfast approach worked at Marquette and it worked at Virginia Tech, and Aggies are betting it works at A&M – in time.
The Challenge
I’m a sappy sort, so I enjoy any throwback games or nods to yesteryear – why I’m a fan of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. I enjoyed covering Oklahoma State playing A&M from 1997-2012 as part of a conference schedule, and I enjoyed seeing that bright orange back in town on Saturday.
Williams, based on his aforementioned rigidness, isn’t as big a fan of interrupting league play with somewhat of a sideshow, and certainly won’t be following an 11-point loss to the Cowboys.
He also knows, in years moving forward, the league challenge will have little bearing on whether the Aggies make the NCAA Tournament – the minimum goal of every program – just as it likely had little bearing on the postseason on Saturday.
Breast Cancer Awareness
The Aggies wore black uniforms with pink lettering in support of an initiative dubbed “Beat the Hell Outta Breast Cancer” sponsored by A&M and CHI St. Joseph Health in Bryan.
At halftime and in a stirring tribute, A&M honored breast cancer survivors and fighters on the court, and honored the memory of those who had passed from the disease.
After the game and in something he desired to keep low key, Williams handed out pink breast cancer awareness t-shirts that he had brought to media members and others. He’s by nature a passionate man, and others battling cancer is a subject he’s passionate about.
Where to from here?
The Aggies have been better on the road in SEC play (2-1) than at home against league foes (1-2), which is good from their perspective because they play their next two away from Reed Arena.
The problem is Tennessee (4-2 SEC) is a step up from the previous victories over a couple of the league’s worst teams in Vanderbilt and Missouri, although Georgia (1-5) is in the same vicinity as the Commodores and Tigers.
The Aggies (9-9, 3-3 SEC) play at Tennessee on Tuesday and at Georgia on Saturday, and if they can keep at .500 when they come back home against Missouri on Feb. 4, they should continue to feel good about perhaps making a postseason tournament.
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January 26, 2020 at 10:21AM
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Takeaways from Oklahoma State 73, Texas A&M 62 - Houston Chronicle
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