The Texas A&M men’s basketball team is running out of answers. The Aggies are also running out of opportunities to earn a Big 12 win this season.
The Aggies (7-11, 0-7 Big 12) extended their losing streak to seven in a row with a 91-79 loss to No. 13 Oklahoma State (16-2, 6-1) Tuesday night at Reed Arena.
A&M senior center Andy Slocum, who grabbed 15 rebounds in the game, said he was upset with how the team performed.
“We didn’t play very good defense and we just didn’t play hard at all,” Slocum said. “We should have come out in dresses.”
Similar to almost every other first half for the Aggies this season, the game remained close. This was surprising, considering the Aggies only shot 40 percent and went 1-8 behind the three-point line.
The Cowboys grabbed any hope from the Aggies with an uncontested nine-point run in the last three minutes before halftime. It would be the closest the Aggies would come to OSU the remainder of the night.
The Aggies battled hard in the second half but could never regain their focus. A&M sophomore forward Antoine Wright went 1-12 overall in the second half, his only hit coming on a wide-open jump shot.
Aggie senior forward Nick Anderson also experienced trouble getting the ball through the net, going 4-9 overall.
“It’s real tough (to focus) when you turn the ball over, keep missing shots (and) keep making mistakes,” Anderson said.
Anderson’s frustration caused him to earn a technical foul for giving a shove to OSU Junior forward Terrence Crawford after a play.
A&M head coach Melvin Watkins said there was a lack of focus on the court and the loss was due primarily to a lack of defense.
“It’s puzzling to me for us to be that bad defensively,” Watkins said. “I don’t think we played as hard tonight as we have in past games.”
OSU junior guard John Lucas, standing at 5 feet 11 inches tall, had far from a small night on the court, tying his career-high 27 points.
Lucas said it was Oklahoma’s shooting and not the Aggie’s defensive problems that led to a Cowboy’s win.
“We just kept running our plays and hitting our shots,” Lucas said. “Good execution of our plays helped us to get those shots in.”
OSU Head Coach Eddie Sutton said he was just happy to have come away with a win because, despite A&M’s losing steak, the Aggies have been playing very well.
“I’d hate to have to come back here and play them again,” Sutton said.
Watkins and the Aggies have four days to solve any defensive problems that plagued them Tuesday night. The Aggies will face Baylor University Saturday at 5 p.m. in Waco.