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Oklahoma won the war, defeating archrival Texas 73-67 Monday night at Lloyd Noble Center in round one of the 2013 Red River Rivalry in basketball, but senior forward Andrew Fitzgerald came up short in his game within the game to gain entry into the Sooner 1,000-point club.
Fitzgerald was held scoreless Monday for just the second time all season, which left him still two points shy of reaching 1,000 points for his career at Oklahoma. The 6-8 big man entered the game with Texas for the first time around the 10-minute mark of the first half. In about six minutes of playing time in the opening half, Fitzgerald was off the mark on two field-goal tries. He only saw about two minutes of action in the second half, and ended the game with only a defensive rebound on his stat line for the night's work.
Fitzgerald, who has been averaging six points and close to 16 minutes per game this season, saw just half of that court time Monday night against the hated Longhorns. The only time this season he has seen fewer minutes of action was in the Sooners conference opener with West Virginia. Fitzgerald logged just four minutes in that contest and did not score
The team's third leading scorer a year ago, when he averaged 12.1 points and 28 minutes as a starter, Fitzgerald is now coming off the bench for head coach Lon Kruger's squad, which stands at 13-4 on the season and, with the win over
Texas, is just one victory away from equaling its five wins in league play from last season, and with 13 more games to play. Fitzgerald has started just one time in 17 games this season and is averaging 5.6 points per contest as generally the first or second player off the bench.
Neither the Sooners nor Fitzgerald can expect to catch many breaks in their next outing on Saturday, when they visit venerable Allen Field House to play second-ranked (USA Today coaches poll) fourth-ranked and eight-time defending Big 12 champion Kansas (16-1, 4-0). The Jayhawks have a road date at Kansas State Tuesday night before the Sooners come calling this weekend.
For a complete look at Andrew Fitzgerald's current and career OU basketball stats, visit SB Nation's college basketball site.
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