Oklahoma seems to have a sickness that even a healthy Jordan Woodard can not alleviate. The Sooners let another game get away from them in the final seconds, allowing the Longhorns to win 84-83. Here is what happened:
- The Sooners picked up five fouls in the first 4:25 of play. They gave up three offensive rebounds, shot 28.6 percent from the field and turned the ball over twice in this span. The Longhorns entered the bonus with 14:39 to play in the first half.
- Unlike the last match-up against Iowa State, the Sooners trailed for the first 8:52, dropping behind by as much as nine points. However, OU went on a 9-0 run to knot the game up at 15 with 11:07 to play
- UT responded to Oklahoma’s 9-0 with a 9-0 run of their own in a little over a minute to give the Longhorns a nine point lead with 9:57 left in the half. Like a broken record, Oklahoma bounced back with a 11-0 run of their own, giving the Sooners their first lead of the game off of a 3-pointer from Doolittle.
- The freshmen phenoms lead the way in the first half, with Doolittle putting up 14 points and grabbing six rebounds, with Kameron McGusty adding eight points. Jordan Woodard, Rashard Odomes and Khadeem Lattin combined for a total of five points. Christian James scored four points in the first half.
- Oklahoma trailed 41-39 going into the half. The Sooners ended the half shooting 41.7 percent from the floor compared to the Longhorns shooting 39.4 percent. OU managed to only have one assist, shot 11.1 percent from the 3-point line and only led for 41 seconds in the first half. However, they scored six more points in the paint (22), forced one more turnover (9) and scored five more points off turnovers (12).
- The Longhorns opened up the second half on fire, extending their 2-point lead at the half to 11 points, forcing the Sooners to a timeout with 17:24 to go in the half.
- Going into the second media timeout of the half, Texas outscored Oklahoma 10-4 in the paint in the second half and carried a 7-point lead with 11:22 to go. At this point in the game, UT grabbed 11 offensive rebounds.
- A Lattin block with 1:29 to play lead to a game-tying bucket from McGusty. This was soon followed by an Odomes steal and dunk, giving the Sooners a lead with 57 seconds left.
- Despite being the worst 3-point shooting team in the Big 12, Texas knocked down two 3-pointers late in the game to win the game. The go-ahead 3-pointer for the Longhorns occurred with just 1.8 seconds left.
- The Sooners finished shooting 43.5 percent from the floor and committed three fewer turnovers that the Longhorns. The shocking stat of the night is that OU only accumulated three assists the entire game.
3 Takeaways
1. Bright future, bleak present
With the loss to UT, OU is now 8-11 on the season. That record is not representative of the talent on this team, however. Doolittle, a true freshman, lead the Sooners with 29 points and 10 rebounds. McGusty, another true freshman, followed behind with 21 points of his own.
2. Lack of Passing
You will not win many games with by only getting three assists. OU was fortunate to be able to rely on the one-on-one skills of the two freshman, but that won’t get the job done. Better defensive teams than Texas will eat that up, and the Sooners will need to create more ball movement now and in the future to be a more efficient offensive team.
3. Too close for comfort
Add this to the collection of games in which Oklahoma could have easily walked away with a win but instead ended up on the losing end. Although this team has improved mightily over the season, they are still lacking the ability to close out games. Kruger will need much more consistency from the leaders of this team.
Oklahoma’s next game will take place this Saturday at 1:00 PM CT, as the Sooners face off against the No. 25 ranked Florida Gators in Norman, OK.
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