A few minutes and a few possessions. That's all that separated Texas A&M from top-ranked Kansas.
The Aggies were headed toward the biggest victory in school history when Big Monday turned into a big disappointment. A&M just couldn't score in the last four minutes as the Jayhawks rallied for a 59-54 victory.
The Aggies played so hard for so long, much to the delight of a record-setting crowd of 13,657. But A&M couldn't finish, though it wasn't for a lack of effort.
Bryan Davis missed a dunk that would have given A&M a six-point lead -- its largest of the game. The crowd would have been heard in Wellborn had that happened. B.J. Holmes and Donald Sloan also missed shots to extend the 52-48 lead as the crowd groaned.
They'd been such a part of the game, because by all indications history was in the making. The Aggies didn't just stand toe-to-toe with the mighty Jayhawks for 36 minutes -- they stood just a little bit taller. A&M was better on defense, better on the perimeter and especially better inside, where the Aggies were relentless.
"I thought we were in control the whole way," A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said. "I never thought we were going to lose."
He wasn't alone.
A&M set the tone, overcoming many obstacles. Kansas jumped to a six-point lead, but the Aggies charged back behind Sloan, who scored 10 of A&M's first 16 points. Unfortunately, the nation didn't see his best work because the lidlifter on ESPN's Big Monday, the Connecticut-Villanova game, ran long.
Sloan eventually cooled off and poor Davis never did get going. Throw in an 0-for-6 shooting game by B.J. Holmes and three of A&M's key players combined to miss 25 shots.
But thanks to a monster game inside from sophomore David Loubeau and 20 offensive rebounds as a team, the Aggies had that 52-48 lead after Dash Harris hit a 3.
But that was the last big hooray. Reed Arena, which had been downright magical, gradually quieted as the Aggies just couldn't score down the stretch.
"You hate to let it slip away, because I thought we had it," Turgeon said.
So did the fans, who are getting much better. They certainly made a difference and showed the nation that the sixth man is equivalent to the 12th man.
But with 26.8 seconds left and Kansas heading to free-throw line with a four-point lead, hundreds of fans started heading to the exits. And when Xavier Henry made the first free throw, more fans left. That's too early, too much can happen.
Unfortunately, A&M didn't make those fans wish they'd stayed. Yet there's no doubt the Aggies did more than enough to make those fans come back.
A&M might have dropped to 0-5 against No. 1-ranked teams, but that streak will come to end sooner than later.
"Our day's coming," Turgeon said.
It certainly is. The Aggies were only four minutes short of making Monday that day.
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