.....You Ain't Got No Alibi - OSU (2)

Goodness gracious was that UGLY! 46 to 44, seriously?

17 to 19 in the second half, really?

All the while, the two teams combined to shoot 9 of 36 in the 2nd half.

OUCH!

The Humble High School girls beat Beaumont West Brook on Friday 65-49. That game was probably more.....

OK - You get the point by now, I am certain.

Listen, at the end of the day the good news is that a win is a win, bottom line. The boys in white and maroon are now in 6th place in the league and still poised to continue their big February run.

Coming out of Austin last week, we said they had two MUST WIN games this week and the good guys managed to do just that in scratching out ugly wins against CU and OSU and protecting home court.

I don't want to spend too much time on last Saturday's game as there isn't much to say other than it was just tough to watch. Those of you there or watching on TV know what I am talking about.

I was so happy for Joe to see him hit the game winner. Especially after missing two free throws that would have put the onus on OSU to hit the big shot late while playing from behind.

With the clock winding down Joe and Acie ran a great pick-and-roll from the right elbow extended just inside the 3 point line. When the 3 OSU defenders went with Acie off the pick, it left The Pride of Normangee with a great look from about 12 feet that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

I thought it was a great move by Gillispie to not call a timeout after the OSU miss. There was enough time on the clock to get set and run your play without having to draw it up on the sideline. I n not calling the timeout he also didn't let Sean Sutton get a defensive set in place to shut down A&M.

You had OSU back on their heels in transition with Kirk pushing the ball and A&M took full advantage of it. Kirk found Acie, Acie called the play and he and Joe ran it to perfection.

I don't think there is any way all 3 OSU guys would have followed Acie off the pick if they would have had the time to get into a defensive set. One of the OSU defenders certainly would have stayed with Joe. That being said, I was not surprised to see Acie draw that kind of attention, especially after what he did to them in Stillwater (35 points back on 01-11-06).

One other thing I want to point out:
Josh Carter hit a 3 with 13:03 left in the game that put A&M up 39-29. The only other FG's from that point on were a layup by Acie at 8:01 and the game winner by Joe at 0:01.1.

Two field goals in the final 13:03.

That's not good and they as a collective group are going to need to shoot the ball better down the stretch.

Hopefully coach won't kill them this week (heaven forbid give them a day off) and let them get their legs back underneath them.

Also - Just as an FYI - Eddie Sutton has been charged with DUI after what happened in Stillwater on Friday - That truly makes me very sad. He was a guy that had a very public and highly documented drinking problem in the past and had battled back and won. He is one of the best basketball coaches to ever work the sideline and it's too bad that this will be the way he is going out. He will take a leave of absence for the remainder of the season.

Some quick hits:

- A&M was 9 of 20 from the free throw line - bad. OSU was 17 of 18 - good.

- Antanas played his best game since the ISU win. He had 5 and 5 in only 14 minutes of action. He also looked good on the defensive end keeping OSU's big guys off balance.

- The regular starters (Kirk/Law/Jones/Walker/Pompey) played 162 of the 200 minutes or 81% of the game.

- Joe managed to play 35 minutes and only commit 1 foul.

- Martellus played 4 minutes again on Saturday and for the most part looked really good. Not sure why he's not getting some of Walker's and Pompey's time. He had one great entry pass into Joe (something Walker and Pompey can't do to save their lives - ever) and was also moving bodies around inside. This kid has got to start seeing the floor for longer periods of time.

- Walker and Pompey combined to go 2 for 7.

- Acie was 3 for 11 with only one 3 point attempt (he missed). He did make-up for a poor shooting day by pitching in 7 assists - tying his second highest total of the season (8 vs. PSU on 12-03-05 and 7 vs. Baylor a couple weeks back).

Pompey Foul Update - Marlon only had 3 fouls again in 28 minutes of action - something is clearly wrong.

Bizarre Rotation of the Game - Welcome back Eddie Smith, you played 1 minute, in at the 8:24 mark of the 1st half and back out at 7:21.

Bizarre Stat(s) of the Game - Not much stood out - A&M was 3 of 11 (27%) from behind the arc again, that's not going to get it done down the stretch.

Looking Ahead

The Aggies now head into their bye week (no mid-week game this week) before heading to Waco on Saturday (12:30 ESPN+) and Columbia on Tuesday the 21st (7:00 FSN - I hope - may be sports bar necessary - see ya there!).

You can afford to drop one of the games this week if you plan on beating Texas at home on March 1, good luck with that.

I'm going to keep them in the "must win" category for now.

From here on out the goal has to be 9 and 7 in league play, plain and simple. It does not matter how you get there as long as you win 4 of these last 5.

No team has ever finished Big 12 play with a winning record and not made the tournament - keep that in mind knowing full well that the conference has also never seen this much parody from top to bottom.

Big 12 Standings
Texas 9-1
Kansas 8-2
Oklahoma 7-3
Colorado 6-4
Nebraska 5-5
Texas A&M 5-6
Kansas State 4-6
Iowa State 4-6
Texas Tech 4-6
Missouri 4-7
Oklahoma State 3-7
Baylor 2-8

Carry on.
-sb