Oklahoma Sooners Basketball: Sooners fall at Texas Tech, 66-59

The Oklahoma Sooners put up quite a fight but ultimately could not finish the job as the Texas Tech Red Raiders squeaked out a 66-59 win in Lubbock. The loss dropped the Sooners to 1-2 in Big 12 play and 12-3 overall. The good news is that OU’s two toughest road games are now behind them and the schedule gets (slightly) easier from here.

Christian James got off to a red hot start, knocking down three of his first five three-point attempts, before cooling off in the second half. He finished with 14 points on 4/12 shooting and 3/10 from three. The team as a whole shot an abysmal 32.3% from the field against Tech’s pack line defense.

The best shooting performance of the night came from Brady Manek who scored 13 points and knocked down 3/6 three-point attempts. Kristian Doolittle also had a solid all-around game with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals.

The two teams traded blows for most of the first half before OU took a 35-30 lead into the locker room at halftime. The game remained close through the entire second half. OU kept the game within five points the entire way until it was forced to foul in the final minute.

While the loss is obviously disappointing and a 1-2 start to conference play isn’t ideal, OU has shown it can play with any team in the Big 12. The Sooners have now played Kansas and Texas Tech, the two best teams in the league, down to the wire on the road. So far, all signs point to this being a more complete team than last season.

The Sooners will try to get back to .500 in conference play when they take on TCU in Norman this Saturday. Tipoff is at 1 pm CT and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest. Tickets are currently available for as little as $5.