Texas 73, Texas A&M 40

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- There were no fans storming the court this time, just complete domination in a revenge game for the Texas Longhorns.

Brad Buckman had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Texas used a smothering defense to overwhelm rival Texas A&M in a 73-40 rout Wednesday night.

The last time these teams met, Aggie fans rushed the court after an 74-63 A&M victory in College Station a month ago. It was the biggest win of coach Billy Gillispie's first season.

Longhorns fan did just the opposite, heading for the exits long before this one was over.

"It's real sweet," said Texas freshman guard Daniel Gibson. "We took that for kind of a momentum booster for this game."

Texas (16-7, 6-5 Big 12) hit five of its first six shots, suffocated the Aggies with tight man-to-man defense and took control when Sydmill Harris hit the first of his two 3-pointers of the half four minutes in.

The Longhorns were ranked No. 10 when they lost to A&M a month ago and this week tumbled all the way out of the Top 25 for the first time in three seasons.

Now Texas finds itself back above .500 in the Big 12 in a late-season push to earn a seventh consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament.

"A lot of people are calling us out right now," said Longhorns guard Kenny Taylor. "Our teammates are all we have. The tournament hasn't started yet. Once the brackets are up, we'll know who's in."

Acie Law scored nine to lead A&M (15-7, 4-7), which shot just 26 percent in its 20th consecutive Big 12 road loss. The Aggies went 13-of-50 from the field.

Trailing 14-6, the Aggies scored just 10 points the rest of the half while the Longhorns hassled A&M shooters on the perimeter and muscled them under the basket after freshman forward Joseph Jones went to the bench with two early fouls.

Taylor had 12 points in the half and Buckman closed it when he stole the ball at midcourt, split two defenders on the fast break for a reverse layup and converted the 3-point play when he was fouled. Texas led 37-16 at the break.

Buckman hit 10 of 10 free throws and recorded his fourth straight double-double.

"I've told him you play your best games when you get to the free throw line," said coach Rick Barnes. "He's being aggressive."

The Aggies, who lead the Big 12 in fewest points allowed at 61 points per game, didn't have the offense to catch up.

Law, who scored 24 against Texas a month ago, was just 2-of-9 shooting, and couldn't duplicate the performance that overshadowed Gibson in the last meeting.

Gibson, who was cut over his right eye and suffered a slight concussion a month ago, had 13 points Wednesday night.

Texas just kept stretching the lead, opening the second with a 9-3 run when Harris and Gibson hit 3-pointers to make it 48-19.

"They didn't miss the shots they missed at our place," Gillispie said. "They basically dominated us every single way."

Jones, the Aggies' best interior threat and only real hope to match Buckman, fouled out midway through the second and was never a factor with just six points on three shots.

"We tried to stop him any way we could," Buckman said. "We threw a lot at him."