College Confidential

UTA women back in win column

The UT-Arlington women had their 24-game Southland Conference winning streak stopped Thursday against UT-San Antonio. The team's Southland losing streak never had a chance.

The Lady Mavericks knocked off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 54-41 on the stage at Texas Hall on Saturday, ending the skid after only one game. Sophomore guard Meghan Nelson led the way for the Lady Mavs (10-7, 5-1) with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Senior center Tiffeny Riles added 12 points.

In a season that started off bumpy for rookie head coach Samantha Morrow, the Lady Mavericks have had things go right at the right time. After Saturday, UTA is a half game behind Texas State for first place in the Southland Conference West Division.

Next up for UT-Arlington is a road game against Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. Thursday in Huntsville. This season the Bearkats are ...t o put it nicely ... struggling. Sam Houston State is 1-17 overall and 0-5 in the Southland Conference.

--Trey Benedict

Changing the routine

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon didn't go through his normal practice routine on Thursday following the Aggies five-overtime game against Baylor the night before.

Instead of practicing, the players got massages and drank fruit drinks and took vitamins.

Turgeon said they came back on Friday and had a great practice, showing more energy than they did in Saturday's victory at Oklahoma State.

"I don't know if these guys will get the credit for what they did today," Turgeon said. "To come off a five overtime game and have guys play 50-some minutes, and to have to travel and play another game on Saturday _ the toughness was just tremendous."

_ John Miller

Tough loss for the Bears

Maybe the Baylor men were suffering a hangover -- if a Baylor team can have a hangover -- from the five-overtime victory Wednesday at Texas A&M.

In any event, Baylor lost, at home, to Oklahoma 77-71 on Saturday afternoon. The Bears fell all the way to a 57-41 deficit before actually taking the lead 71-70 with 1:57 to play. Oklahoma quickly recaptured the lead on a sweet move inside by Blake Griffin, yes, the freshman star who was supposed to be out with a sprained knee for at least another two weeks.

Baylor had its chances in the final two minutes but couldn't connect.

Blake Griffin had only two points at halftime but finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Adversity helping Aggies

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon thinks the adversity the Aggies faced during their three-game losing streak they they snapped on Saturday with a 59-56 victory against Oklahoma State has helped bring the team together.

"I now feel like I'm in charge, the players are playing for me and it's just brought us together," Turgeon said. "Our team unity is better, guys are cheering for each other, our team defense has gotten better. It was a tough stretch, and knock on wood I hope we don't have another one, but we're coming together and we're becoming a better basketball team."

_ John Miller

TCU men overwhelmed early

The Horned Frogs (11-7, 3-2 Mountain West) did not make a basket for more than seven minutes into the game in a 74-58 loss at Utah on Saturday afternoon.

In one of those scoring droughts that have plagued the Frogs in recent years, they missed their first seven shots and committed five turnovers in that span. The loss snapped TCU's three-game winning streak.

The Utes built a 14-1 lead by the time Brent Hackett finally hit a jumper with 12:48 left before halftime. The Frogs had scored their first point on a Kevin Langford free throw with 15:51 left.

The Utes, however, quickly extended their lead to 20-3. TCU cut the lead to 40-32 early in the second half, but the Utes responded by scoring 10 straight points to regain control.

UTA men have changed their style

Something strange has happened to the UT-Arlington men's basketball team. This season the Mavericks have been succesful due to consistently high shooting-percentages and despite consistently high turnover numbers. But in the past two games, the Bizzaro Mavericks have made an appearance. Following a 56-50 home win against UT-San Antonio on Wednesday, UTA pulled out a 57-55 win on the road against defending Southland Conference champs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Against UTSA, UTA shot 38.1% from the field, and committed 13 turnovers, the season low at the time. On Saturday against A&M-Corpus Christi, the Mavericks (14-4, 4-2) shot 38.8% but gave up only nine turnovers, the new season low. The win was the fourth in a row, and ended a four-game road losing streak for UTA.

The real Anthony Vereen, not the Bizzaro version, showed up for UTA in a big way against A&M-Corpus Christi. The Mavericks' most consistent offensive threat scored 20 points, including 14 in the second half. The junior forward was 8-of-10 from the free throw line and also added nine rebounds. Senior center Jermaine Griffin scored 12 points.

A&M-Corpus Christi (5-12, 2-3) was led by Kevin Perkins with 14 points, and Demond Watt added 11. Seven-foot senior Chris Daniels, last season's Southland Conference Player of the Year, was held to only nine points and four rebounds. The Islanders shot only 33.9% from the field as a team.

Next up for UTA is Sam Houston State in Huntsville on Wednesday. The game will air on Fox Sports Southwest at 7 p.m.

--Trey Benedict

Huge win for the Aggies men

The Texas A&M men notched a critical road victory Saturday at Oklahoma State, winning 59-56, three days after the five-overtime defeat against Baylor.

Bryan Davis, a sophomore from Grand Prairie High School, rebounded an Oklahoma State miss and then hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left for the final margin. After an OSU timeout, Donald Sloan stole the inbounds pass to seal the victory.

A&M is 16-4, 2-3 in the Big 12 and is host to Texas on Wednesday.

The Cowboys, who at 1-4 are off to their worst start in Big 12 play, were held scoreless after James Anderson hit one free throw with 2:52 remaining to give OSU a 56-53 lead.

Poor shooting dooms Lady Frogs

After shooting only 22.2 percent in the first half, things didn't get much better for TCU in the second half against Utah. The Lady Frogs finished at 27.9 percent, hitting just 17 of 61 attempts, including 5 of 26 from 3-point range, and also made only 11 of 20 free-throw attempts in a 60-50 loss. Kalee Whipple poured in 30 points for the Utes (16-3, 5-0 Mountain West), who won their 11th consecutive game. Lorie Butler-Rayford scored 13 points to lead the Lady Frogs (10-9, 3-2). Adrianne Ross shot just 3-for-16 from the field and finished with seven points.

-- Lori Dann

Blake Griffin back for Sooners

Oklahoma freshman star Blake Griffin, who sprained a knee ligament against Kansas and was thought to be sidelined for at least four weeks, is playing against Baylor.

The Sooners led the Bears 39-30 at halftime. Griffin was only 1-for-6 shooting for two points, but had seven rebounds.

TCU women face uphill climb

The Lady Frogs have been almost unbeatable at home against Mountain West Conference opponents, going 16-2 since joining the league. That streak is in jeopardy after Utah used a 17-5 run to take a 25-19 halftime lead at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Utah's Kalee Whipple is nearly outscoring the entire TCU team with 18 points, hitting 5 of 7 field goals and 6 of 7 free throws while also grabbing a team-high four rebounds. Micah Garoutte has five points to lead TCU, which is shooting only 22.2 percent from the field.

-- Lori Dann