Oklahoma Sooners Basketball tops No. 8 Texas Tech, 75-65

The No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners were looking for their third top-10 win of the season on Tuesday night, and they got it done with defense in a 75-65 victory over No. 8 Texas Tech.

Trae Young went 1-12 from the field in the first half, but Oklahoma made the necessary adjustments to get him going. Young ended up with and nine assists. The unsung hero of the night, however, was undoubtedly Khadeem Lattin, who blocked seven shots and helped get Oklahoma going defensively.

As a team, Oklahoma blocked 10 shots, had seven steals and caused 11 first-half turnovers. When Trae Young and the rest of the guys struggled offensively (the team started 0-10 from deep), the defense effort kept them in the game against a really tough Texas Tech team. And although Young got off to a cold start, he contributed to the defensive effort in a very meaningful way with four first-half steals. All of this allowed Oklahoma to get buckets in transition.

In the second half, Trae Young and Oklahoma found their rhythm offensively, hitting 14 of their 25 field goal attempts, connecting on six of 10 deep attempts and getting to the line 15 times.

Lattin finished the game 11 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks while Christian James added 15 points of his own. Rashard Odomes was solid all around, adding nine points to go along with his usual solid defense. Kristian Doolittle played 21 minutes off the bench and provided an nice spark on both ends — particularly in the first half.

Oklahoma will be back in action this Saturday when No. 16 TCU rolls into town for the second meeting of the season.