Oklahoma Sooners Basketball: TCU Prevails 82-63, Ends OU’s Season

Although it is always sad when one season ends, this season was not one to remember. OU got bounced out of the first round of the Big 12 tournament, losing to TCU 82-63. Here is what you missed.

• Both teams got out to a fast start, with Oklahoma shooting 50 percent from the floor and TCU shooting 63.6 percent. Due to no stoppage of play, the first media timeout arrived at the 13:20 mark, with TCU edging out OU with a 16-12 lead.
• The TCU zone defense seemed to confuse and frustrate the Sooners’ offense, but Oklahoma managed to stay within striking distance. With 7:51 to go in the half, OU trailed 23-19 and were getting out-rebounded 11-5.
• The Sooners knotted the game up at 29-29 with 3:59 left in the half. Despite TCU shooting 59.1 percent from the field and owning scoring in the paint, Oklahoma capitalized off of turnovers with eight points.
• A 12-0 TCU run widened the gap and helped the Horned Frogs propel into halftime with a 13-point lead.
• Khadeem Lattin lead the way for the Sooners with eight points and five rebounds in the first half, with Kristian Doolittle and Darrion Strong-Moore contributing five points each.
• A whistle-happy officiating crew set the tone to start the 2nd, calling a total of seven fouls in the first 4:04 of the half, with five of those against TCU. However, OU could not take advantage and were actually outscored by one by the first media timeout, trailing TCU by 14 points.
• After the Sooners surged back to bring the deficit to just within seven points, TCU responded with a run of their own, putting the lead back to 15 points with 9:11 to go in the game.
• The Sooners could not manage to find a grip on this game, letting the deficit slide to 17 points with 3:57 left. OU looked out of sorts since giving up a 15-2 run to end the first half, and TCU managed to silence any thought of a comeback with clutch shots.
• Oklahoma got outscored in the second-half by six points to lose their final game by a total of 19 points.

3 Takeaways

1. TCU shot the lights out of the gym, finishing the game with a 60 percent shooting percentage. OU did not shoot terribly, shooting 40.7 percent from the field, but they could not keep up with the pace of the Horned Frogs.
2. The TCU zone caused Oklahoma fits. Although they faced a very similar defense just four days ago, for whatever reason they could not seem to figure out how to score.
3. Lattin finished the game with a team-high of 18 points and nine rebounds. Doolittle was the only other player on the Oklahoma roster to score above 10 points, adding 11 points to the total.

Oklahoma finishes the season 11-20, and will hopefully rebound next season after this huge drop-off. With Trae Young joining the squad, paired up with the young talent of this team, OU may look to pose a threat to the KU reign of the Big 12 (as wild as that may sound at this point).