Oklahoma routs Texas A&M, reaches Elite 8
Jordan Woodard (10) celebrates with Oklahoma teammate Isaiah Cousins after hitting a three-pointer and getting fouled in Sooners' victory over Texas A&M in West Regional semifinal at Honda Center in Anaheim, California on March 24, 2016 Credit: Getty Images / Harry How
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jordan Woodard scored 22 points and Buddy Hield had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Oklahoma Sooners to a 77-63 romp over third-seeded and cold-shooting Texas A&M in the NCAA West Regional on Thursday.
The Sooners (28-7) advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009. They’ll play Saturday against the Duke-Oregon winner.
The Sooners blew open a close game by going on a 19-4 run during the last 7:42 of the first half to take a 45-26 lead. The Sooners forced the Aggies into bad shots and turnovers, and Woodard was the catalyst on the offensive end.
Tyler Davis scored 17 for A&M (28-9), which reached the Sweet 16 with a thrilling double-overtime victory against Northern Iowa after rallying from 12 points down in the final 44 seconds of regulation.
The Sooners advanced to the regional finals for the first time since 2009, when they lost to North Carolina in the South Regional. Oklahoma is trying to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2002, when it lost to Indiana in the national semifinals.
Oklahoma shot 49.2 percent while holding the Aggies to 34.2 percent. Texas A&M added to its misery by making only six of 28 3-pointers and just 13 of 24 free throws.
Woodard started the decisive first half run with a 3-pointer and had another shot from behind the arc with 3:15 to go. He also fed Khadeem Lattin for a slam dunk and then hit a sweet, off-balance bank shot as the shot clock was close to expiring with about 20 seconds left.
The Aggies went more than seven minutes without a field goal. Tonny Trocha-Morelos made a layup to pull them to 24-20 with 9:32 to go before halftime. The Aggies didn’t make another shot from the field in the half until Davis had a putback with 2:10 to go. By then, it was 40-24 Sooners.
Woodard made five of six 3-pointers. Hield wasn’t as effective as normal from behind the arc, making just two of seven.
Christian James added 12 points for Oklahoma while Ryan Spangler and Lattin had 10 apiece.
Jalen Jones had 11 for the Aggies while Danuel House scored 10.
