Oklahoma Looks to Neutralize 'Havoc' in Road Tilt vs. Texas A&M

NORMAN — Mississippi State and Texas A&M both have maroon and white as their primary colors, but their styles of play couldn’t be more different.

MSU, which defeated Oklahoma 72-53 on Wednesday, plays at a consistently slow pace. Texas A&M, the Sooners’ next opponent, presses for 40 minutes and runs a fast, up-tempo offense.

Ahead of Saturday’s road game against the Aggies, OU coach Porter Moser noted the challenge of having to play against the dueling styles in only a four-game span.

“It’s really contrasting,” Moser said. “We’ve got to play a lot of guys, we’ve got to stay fresh, but we can’t snowball turnovers.”

The Sooners are coming off arguably their worst overall game of the season.

OU shot just 31 percent from the field and went 3-of-20 on three-point attempts. The Bulldogs outscored the Sooners 45-26 in the second half to hand the Sooners their first SEC loss of the 2025-26 season.

Moser praised the defense’s effort in Starkville, noting that the Sooners frequently forced the Bulldogs to take contested shots.

The offense, though, must improve against the Aggies, per Moser.

“I think we took too many tough twos,” Moser said. “I thought we started dribbling too much. We've been really good at spacing, moving the ball. We've gotta be better offensively.”

As mentioned, Texas A&M plays fast.

Head coach Bucky McMillan brought his “Bucky Ball” style of play — which revolves around a full-court press, quick 3-pointers and excellence in transition — with him to College Station when was hired after the 2024-25 season.

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The up-tempo style has worked so far: Texas A&M is second in the SEC in scoring offense (94.4 points per game), and the Aggies have the league’s second-best three-point percentage (38 percent).

“They do an outstanding job of creating havoc on defense and being really spatial on offense, getting 3’s and getting to the rim,” Moser said.

TAMU is one of only five SEC squads still undefeated in conference play.

The Aggies opened their SEC slate with a home win against LSU before they upset Auburn on the road on Tuesday. They opened the year 2-2 with losses to Oklahoma State and UCF and have since won 10 of their last 11 games.

Against an improving team with a unique style, Moser said that his team must keep its emotions in check.

“You can’t get tentative, even if you’re up,” Moser said. “You have to stay aggressive. They’ve done a great job in a short amount of time of having that mentality with their guys. They don’t feel like they’re ever out of it. When they’re up, they’re going to play the same way. You’ve gotta keep playing possession by possession.”

Even after Wednesday’s loss, the Sooners have plenty of time to make up ground and rise back toward the top of the SEC standings. Saturday’s game will be OU’s third contest of its 18-game SEC schedule, giving the Sooners (11-4 overall, 1-1 SEC) ample time to bolster their NCAA Tournament before March.

Saturday’s game against the Aggies will begin at 2:30 p.m.