When the Aggies needed a stop they got it, when they needed a basket they got it, when they needed a lift from the crowd they got it, and when they needed an offensive rebound they got two.
It was that kind of afternoon for the 22nd-ranked Texas A&M men's basketball team, which decisively handed the No. 21 Texas Longhorns their worst loss of the season, 74-58, in front of record crowd of 13,717 on Saturday at Reed Arena.
"We were pretty good," A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "I told the kids ... no, I don't want to tell you that. I just felt that we were better than Texas today in this building, with our fans, and the guys just had to go out and do it, and yeah, it was a great effort."
The victory guaranteed the Aggies of their sixth consecutive 20-win season. A&M, now 20-8 overall and 9-5 in Big 12 play, also got a leg up on one of the handful of teams battling for a bye in the first round of the upcoming Big 12 Tournament.
Texas fell to 22-7 and 8-6, taking its seventh loss in its last 12 games after opening the season 17-0 and reaching No. 1 in the polls for the first time in the program's history.
"To get 20 [victories] with the schedule we had says a lot," said A&M guard Donald Sloan, who along with Bryan Davis finished 4-0 against the Longhorns at Reed Arena. "To say you've never lost to Texas at home is also pretty big. They've been good since I've been here. To get the 20th win on them is even bigger."
Sloan had plenty to do with win No. 20, leading the way with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. He also had four assists.
It was a total team effort, though. The Aggies built their biggest lead with many of the starters on the bench. Two Khris Middleton free throws and another by Ray Turner put the Aggies up 52-36 with 10:08 to play.
"We built the lead up to 16 and I looked at those three guys [on the bench] and wanted to say, 'We are better without you,' but I didn't," Turgeon said. "I said, 'I'm going to put you back at 8 minutes,' and then the bottom fell out."
Texas scored 10 of the game's next 11 points, capped by a four-point play by J'Covan Brown. Turgeon called timeout after Brown's runner in the lane cut the lead to 53-46.
David Loubeau, who scored 15 points, converted on a three-point play immediately after the timeout, and Sloan and Middleton each made two free throws in the Aggies' next two possessions. At that point the game, which appeared safely locked away just minutes earlier, was again all but over at 60-48.
To be fair, the game belonged to the Aggies throughout. The Longhorns never led and only got to within five once in the second half, at 36-31.
Even when it appeared the Longhorns were about to make something happen, the Aggies would pull away again.
At 41-33, Justin Mason appeared to have a steal in the corner but was unable to come up with the ball, and Sloan picked it up and swished a 3. Naji Hibbert then had a steal and a breakaway but was unable to convert, only to have Loubeau follow it up with a dunk.
A couple of possessions later, Nate Walkup calmly hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down, as he had in the first half. The Aggies, who came in as the worst 3-point shooting team in the conference, were 7 for 12 on Saturday.
"We shot 52 percent in the second half and that's like shooting 75 percent for us," Turgeon said. "The offense got better as the game went on and the execution was pretty good."
The Aggies had things going their way so much so that they even scored on an out of bounds play from the sideline with three seconds left on the shot clock. Loubeau was isolated on the opposite side of the floor against Gary Johnson, secured the pass, missed but then followed for two to make it 64-50.
"We guarded exceptionally well, rebounded at a high level," Turgeon said. "I showed film of the guys getting their tails kicked on the boards [in the loss at Baylor on Wednesday] and they responded, rebounded well at both ends."
A&M held the Longhorns to their lowest point production of the season and handed them their worst rebounding differential at minus-11. The Aggies had 16 offensive boards, which is what bothered despondent Longhorns coach Rick Barnes most.
"I'm disappointed in a lot of things, somewhat embarrassed to be honest," Barnes said. "It's embarrassing to me to sit there and watch teams run up and down the floor, because I think offensive rebounding, transition defense is all effort."
A&M had 22 second-chance points to UT's nine and outscored the Longhorns 21-14 on points off turnovers.
Texas' Damion James, the all-time Big 12 leader in double-doubles, had 12 points but only one rebound. The Longhorns got eight rebounds from their three big men in a total of 53 minutes.
That number equaled the total of A&M's Bryan Davis, who had seven of his eight rebounds on the offensive end.
Loubeau had seven rebounds, including two big ones late after the Longhorns made their final run.
Play was sloppy for both sides in the first five minutes. At one point there were as many blocked shots (five) as field goals. There were also four turnovers during that time.
The story quickly changed when Ray Turner entered the game at 7-7. The 6-foot-8 freshman scored six straight points -- two on a dunk, two on a putback and two more on a dunk with an assist from Sloan.
Sloan followed with a 3, and in the three minutes Turner had played the Aggies outscored UT 9-3.
"He comes in, rebounds, blocks shots, energy guy," Loubeau said of Turner. "Ray is a big part of the team."
A few minutes later, Turner picked up his fourth basket on his third dunk, this time on a no-look feed from Dash Harris, who had six of the Aggies' 14 assists. Turner finished with a career-high nine points.
Late in the game B.J. Holmes, who scored eight points, stepped in front of Brown and took a charge. The two crashed to the floor, with Holmes hurting his right foot and having to be carried by two players off the floor.
Brown stayed down much longer than Holmes after hitting his head. He eventually was taken off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital before the game was over. The latest report was that he suffered a neck strain and was released from the hospital later Saturday.
The news was good on Holmes, only because his foot wasn't broken as the Aggies originally feared. Turgeon said they will have to wait and see on his status going forward.
*
NOTES -- A&M has set an attendance record in three of the last four home games. ... Davis had four blocks, matching his career high. ... A&M had had 15 fast-break points, its high in the Big 12 this season. ... UT freshman guard Jordan Hamilton scored 10 points and was the only other Longhorn besides James to reach double figures.
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