By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- 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 Longhorns, who had fallen out of the Top 25 this week for the first time in three seasons, avenged a loss to the Aggies a month ago when Texas (17-7, 6-5 Big 12) was ranked No. 10.
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.
The last time these teams met, Aggie fans stormed the court after an 74-63 A&M victory in College Station. It was the biggest win in coach Billy Gillispie's first season.
There was no similar outburst in Austin. Longhorns fans headed for the exits long before this one was over.
Texas 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.
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.
Kenny 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.
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 Texas freshman point guard Daniel 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.
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.
