NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — East Texas A&M coach Jaret von Rosenberg told fans to get excited about his team entering the 2026-27 season.
Now everyone knows why.
East Texas A&M, formerly known as Texas A&M-Commerce and with a basketball program that finished near the bottom in the Southland Conference the last two seasons, shocked Oklahoma with a 68-64 season-opening victory Monday night for its first win against a power conference opponent.
“I told people
to get excited," said von Rosenberg, who has coached the program since 2017. "I think this basically solidifies that.”
Bo Aldridge led East Texas A&M with 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the season opener for both teams. Mohamed Diakite and Alonzo Dodd each scored 15 points for the Lions, who entered the game as 30 1/2-point underdogs, according to one oddsmaker, and never trailed after taking a 13-12 lead with 12:59 remaining before halftime.
Oklahoma tied it at 58-all and 60-all with 2:51 to go but never took the lead. Aldridge made two free throws with 3 seconds left to play to seal it.
“You’re always trying to get buy-in as fast as you can in the season,” von Rosenberg said, "and you have a plan, and sometimes when the plan doesn’t work it’s hard to get guys to see it. The best thing from this whole situation is they can see what works and what’s successful and what doesn’t. So hopefully we can just build off this.”
Pop Isaacs scored 15 points, and Derrion Reid scored 14 and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Sooners.
It was East Texas A&M's first win in the three-game series between the two teams. Oklahoma beat the Lions 84-56 on Nov. 21, 2024, and 87-59 on Dec. 1, 1970.
Oklahoma has an Southeastern Conference-most five players on the roster who have appeared in 100 or more games: Tae Davis (134), Duke Brennan (133), B.J. Edwards (110), Xzayvier Brown (104) and Isaacs (100). Brown didn’t play on Monday because of a lower-body injury.
East Texas A&M, located about an hour east of Dallas, joined the Southland Conference in 2022 after long competing in Division II. Nine of the 15 players listed on the Lions' roster are freshmen.
“The only thing I know to do is apologize to the fanbase and get better," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said after the loss. "I apologize to every single person that came in. The things you do in a game like this in basketball that gets you beat, we did. We had 15 turnovers, 15 missed free throws and (were) plus-18 from the 3-point line. Those are things that get you beat in this game. ... They got us on our heels, and we stayed on our heels.”
Oklahoma entered having won 22 of its past 23 season openers, with the lone defeat during the stretch coming in 2022-23 to Sam Houston, 52-51, in Norman.
The Sooners also entered the 2026-27 season with 30 consecutive nonconference wins at Lloyd Noble Center.
East Texas A&M: Heads to Houston to play Rice on Thursday.
Oklahoma: Hosts Mississippi Valley State on Friday.
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This story has been corrected to show that Jaret von Rosenberg has coached East Texas A&M since 2017, not 2022.
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