With 17:00 minutes left in the second half, No. 17 Oklahoma led No. 10 Texas A&M 51-33, and with 19 seconds remaining, Zhuric Phelps hit a three-pointer to give the Aggies an 80-78 lead. That score ultimately held, handing Oklahoma a tough loss and dropping them to 13-2 (0-2) on the season, despite leading by as many as 18 points in the second half, getting 34 points from Brycen Goodine, and facing a Texas A&M team without its best player, Wade Taylor.

The first half was all about Brycen Goodine, who put together one of the most impressive halves from a Sooner in recent memory. He tallied 21 points on 6-8 shooting from deep, propelling Oklahoma to a 39-30 halftime lead. The Sooners shot the ball extremely well early, but things fell apart after the break.

The second half belonged to Phelps, who hit the game-winning three. Phelps, a career 26.1% three-point shooter, erupted for 28 points in the second half alone, including six three-pointers. He finished with 34 points on 11-25 shooting from the field and 6-10 from behind the arc. Despite Goodine’s stellar performance and Oklahoma’s strong start, the Sooners couldn’t withstand Texas A&M’s furious comeback.

Well, here’s the Report Card from Oklahoma’s loss despite: 1) getting 34 points from Goodine, 2) leading by 18 in the second half, and 3) facing a Texas A&M team without its leading scorer.

Good or bad first? Let’s start with the bad.

In the final eight minutes of the game, Oklahoma made just two (!) field goals. If you’re looking for a “How to Blow a Lead MasterClass,” scoring only twice in crunch time is Lesson 1.

It was those last eight minutes — where the Sooners simply couldn’t get anything going — that cost them the game. That collapse makes it hard to fully appreciate their solid first half, when things were actually clicking.

Oklahoma shot an impressive 14-24 (58.3%) from deep, 25-46 (54.3%) from the field, and 14-17 (82.4%) from the free throw line. They put up 39 first-half points and were firing on all cylinders offensively. But when it mattered most — those crucial final eight minutes — they completely imploded.

Let’s start with Jeremiah Fears, who logged only 21 minutes. Fears finished with 13 points, four rebounds, four turnovers, and three assists while shooting 4-8 from the field, 1-3 from behind the arc, and 4-5 from the free throw line. There were plenty of freshman moments, but it felt like his reduced minutes prevented him from finding a rhythm—something that became evident when Oklahoma turned to him as a potential hero late in the game.

Duke Miles added 8 points on 2-6 shooting from the field and 2-4 from deep, along with three rebounds, three assists, and three turnovers in just 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Kobe Elvis was a non-factor offensively, scoring 0 points in 27 minutes. He shot 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc but did record eight assists, most of which were to Goodine. Despite the assists, Elvis struggled with the physicality of the game and contributed little else.

Jalon Moore played 33 minutes and contributed 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 2-3 from deep, along with four rebounds, three turnovers, and two blocks. Sam Godwin added 6 points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 26 minutes while shooting 3-5 from the field.

Overall, it was a rough night for the starting five. Fears had his freshman struggles, Elvis couldn’t handle the physicality, and while Miles and Moore were solid, neither had standout performances.

The Sooners got an incredible 34 points out of Goodine on 10-14 shooting from the field and 9-11 from behind the arc. He also shot 5-6 from the free-throw line. Goodine was on fire from the jump, knocking down six of his three-pointers in the first half. He put together one of the best shooting performances ever seen by a Sooner, in fact, tying Mookie Blaylock and Hollis Price for the fourth-most three-pointers in a game in Oklahoma history. After a rough showing from the bench against Alabama, this performance from Goodine was exactly what the team needed.

Additionally, Mohamed Wague had a solid first half, playing 12 quality minutes before only seeing two minutes in the second half. He scored 2 points, added two rebounds, one assist, and a block. His biggest struggle was not being able to playmake off the short roll, but aside from that, his first half was encouraging.

Oklahoma got 34 points from Goodine, solid minutes from Wague, and good contributions from Glenn Taylor, who scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting from the field. Overall, it was a strong performance from the bench, which makes this loss even more puzzling.

Arguably the main reason Oklahoma lost this game was turnovers. A team that has been solid at taking care of the ball all season long imploded, committing 18 turnovers—twice as many as their opponent. Beating a top-10 team while turning the ball over 18 times is incredibly difficult, and it wasn’t just in the second half where turnovers haunted this team. Despite getting 21 points from Goodine, Oklahoma led by just nine at halftime.

That was, in large part, due to turnovers, as they gave the ball away eight times in the first half. The turnovers made it difficult for the Sooners to extend their lead. Pair those eight first-half turnovers with Phelps’ explosive second half performance and Oklahoma’s inability to score more than two field goals in the final eight minutes, and you have the recipe for a tough loss.

Oklahoma’s guards collapsed when Texas A&M ramped up their pressure in the second half, leading to an influx of turnovers and ultimately contributing to the defeat.

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