Not only were the Oklahoma State fans going crazy when their Cowboys pulled out a close 57-56 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies, but they were joined by Texas and Baylor fans who were waiting for their teams’ matchup. The game was basically a home game for Oklahoma State, even thought they were wearing black uniforms.
For Texas A&M, the win stings, but it won’t hurt as much as people might think. Not only will the team get rest before the NCAA Tournament, but the motivation from a loss should carry over. And from the look of A&M head coach Billy Gillispie, the Aggies will pay for the loss in practice, which should also pay off in the tournament.
After the game, Gillispie just shook his head and said “I think we’ll be ok.”
Of all the games, this was the only one that had the potential, if close, to affect my health. And today, of course, Kansas blew out Oklahoma, Kansas State blew out Texas Tech and then the game that had the possibility to raise my blood pressure did just that.
A&M shot a better percentage than Oklahoma State with a 42-40 advantage. The Aggies even seemed to take the game’s momentum with 10:59 left in the game. Acie Law IV hit a jump shot to put A&M up seven. Then A&M guard Domonique Kirk stole the ball. Kirk turned it over, and JamesOn Curry hit a three to make the lead only five. After that missed opportunity the Aggies had to take charge, the Cowboys fought to the end.
Marion Boggan made the game-winner for OSU, as he scored in the post with only 11 seconds left. A&M inbounded the ball quickly and Law pushed it up the court, but Josh Carter missed a shot from the corner. Antanas Kavaliauskas missed the put-back, and then Carter missed again from the same spot. A&M had three chances to win, but just couldn’t make the shot. Credit OSU’s defense with the victory. They Law, an All-American point guard, to only 10 points. Kavaliauskas was only 2-12 from the field as well.
Oklahoma State’s desire to win impressed me throughout the game. They became only the third No. 7 seed to advance the semi-finals, but they didn’t play like a seven seed. And they definitely did not play like the team A&M defeated by 18 points in College Station and by 20 in Stillwater.
As I walked around, I settled for a while down by the southeast corner of the court. As I watched Law get whistled for an offensive foul on the fast break, I heard a voice yell out “what game are you watching?” I turned around and saw that the only person standing up in the entire section was Law’s father, Acie Law III. He continued to stand for the next 10 minutes, so I started to take a picture of him. He saw me, gave a thumbs up and then went back to his stone-cold game-time face just in time for the picture. Unfortunately my camera died, and I was using Todd’s, which we have now way of uploading. Hopefully we can get the pictures posted tomorrow.
Obviously A&M’s early departure from the tournament is upsetting, but we are still going to attend and blog the rest of the games.