Oklahoma Sooners basketball: Poor shooting kills Sooners against Texas

Brady Manek flushed down an alley-oop pass from Trae Young to cut the Texas lead to 72-70 with 2:36 left to play. That dunk looked to be the spark that could propel the Sooners to a late run and a victory that would move them into first place in the Big 12. It wasn’t. OU’s next four possessions looked like this: turnover, turnover, missed jumper, missed jumper. It turns out that shooting 3-22 from three is not a winning formula, and the Sooners found that out the hard way in Saturday’s 79-74 loss to Texas.

12 of OU’s 19 missed three-pointers came from Trae Young, who had far and away his worst shooting performance of the season. What the Player of the Year frontrunner lacked in shooting, he almost made up for with 14 assists. Young seemed to catch the Longhorns defense sleeping after every defensive rebound, but even that wasn’t enough to push the Sooners to victory.

Young’s supporting cast was, with the exceptions of Rashard Odomes and Jamuni McNeace, extremely underwhelming. Khadeem Lattin was tasked with guarding Texas phenom Mo Bamba. It did not go well. Lattin chipped in just two points and two rebounds while picking up 4 fouls. Brady Manek, who has been a picture of inconsistency this season, added just sicx points and shot 0-4 from 3.

Kansas’ home loss to Oklahoma State earlier today created an unexpected chance for OU to move into a tie for first in the Big 12, but they were not able to capitalize. The Sooners remain one game back of Kansas and Texas Tech with one game remaining against each. OU’s next game is a chance to avenge a road loss against West Virginia on Monday night. Tipoff is 8pm CT at the Lloyd Nobel Center. The broadcast will be on ESPN.