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East Texas A&M records college basketball's second-biggest upset in 30 years
East Texas A&M forward Bo Aldridge sails to the hoop during his team's win over Oklahoma on Monday night at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. Elayna Felder/East Texas A&M Athletics

We already have our first stunning upset of the 2026-27 college basketball season

The East Texas A&M men's basketball team is picked to finish dead last in the Southland Conference this season.

The voters might want to rethink that assessment after Monday night's season opener, as the Lions shocked the mighty SEC's Oklahoma Sooners, 68-64, to mark one of the sport's most surprising results in decades. The Lions were 29-point underdogs at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma, but they walked away with the biggest win in program history.

"We had guys step up and make big-time plays down the stretch," East Texas A&M coach Jaret von Rosenberg said in a postgame interview. "It was far from perfect. But when you play defense like we did in the first half and hold somebody to 29 percent, that gives you a chance obviously to win. ...It's exciting, because that's not the best this team can play."

The Lions' win stands as the second-largest upset in more than 100,000 NCAA Division I games over the past three decades, per ESPN. Only Eastern Illinois' upset of 30.5-point favorite Iowa in 2022 was seen as less likely by oddsmakers over that span. The Lions didn't dominate statistically, but they did outshoot the Sooners from three-point range, 41 to 25 percent.

The defeat ended a 30-game nonconference home win streak for the Sooners, who lost their opener for just the second time in 24 seasons.

"The only thing I know to do is apologize to the fan base and get better," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser told media after the loss. "But I apologize to every single person that came in. ...We played on our heels all night. They got us on our heels, and we stayed on our heels. ...It was not good enough, and that's on me."

Bo Aldridge poured in a game-high 22 points in 25 minutes on 8-for-12 shooting for the Lions, while Mohamed Diakite and Alonzo Dodd added 15 points each. Pop Isaacs led the Sooners with 15 points.

Next up for the suddenly swaggering Lions is a trip to Houston to play Rice (1-0) on Thursday.

Until then, enjoy the win, Commerce, Texas.

Thomas Neumann

Thomas Neumann is an editor for Yardbarker. A longtime sports journalist, he previously worked at ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA TODAY Sports Media Group, Athlon Sports and The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is a graduate of San Diego State University.

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