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The No. 23 Oklahoma Sooners had a tough task ahead of themselves tonight, and the No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders proved to be too much. Oklahoma was dealt an 88-78 loss, which is it’s seventh consecutive road loss and fourth straight loss overall. The loss dropped Oklahoma to 6-7 in Big 12 play and 16-9 overall.
Trae Young struggled from three-point range in yet another road game, going 0-9 from beyond the arc. He definitely did some nice things as a facilitator in the early going, but Texas Tech’s elite defensive prowess played a roll in keeping OU from finding any kind of offensive rhythm.
Christian James had a very strong performance for the Sooners, going 8-14 from the field and connecting on 4-8 three-point attempts, totaling a career-high 23 points. James has been one of the lone bright spots for this as of late even when he isn’t hitting his shots. It would be nice to see his teammates match his energy, but it just isn’t happening.
Kameron McGusty scored 13 points on 3-5 shooting (4-4 at the free-throw line), reching double digits for the first time since Oklahoma’s Jan. 6 loss at West Virginia. It was really nice to see a glimmer of what Kameron McGusty has brought to the Sooners in the past, and maybe we’ll get an opportunity to see some more of that down the stretch. The Sooners obviously need it.
Jamuni McNeace also did some good things (particularly in the first half), but there wasn’t much help to be found elsewhere. Brady Manek continued to struggle from deep, Rashard Odomes basically disappeared offensively, and Khadeem Lattin didn’t attempt a field goal.
Defensively, Oklahoma again allowed a team to far exceed it’s three point average. Texas Tech connecting on 11 of 21 three-point attempts on the night after coming into the game averaging just over six per contest. Switching continues to be an issue for this team out on the perimeter.
A loss at No. 7 Texas Tech in and of itself is nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s frustrating to see this team fail to get over the hump on the road time and time again as many of the same issues continue to linger. Fortunately, Oklahoma comes home to face a very beatable opponent in the Texas Longhorns this weekend, so maybe some good vibes will benefit this team. However, they’ll have to rely on a bit more than that to truly fix their issues.