Oklahoma Sooners Basketball: OU takes down Texas on the road, 72-62

On Wednesday night, the Oklahoma Sooners picked up a huge 72-62 road win over their Red River rivals — the Texas Longhorns (10-4, 0-2). It’s the first win for OU in Austin since Jan. 5, 2015. With the victory, Lon Kruger’s team improves to 11-3 overall on the season, 2-0 in Big 12 play.

Senior forward Kristian Doolittle continued to be an absolute force for Oklahoma from the tip to the final buzzer. The Edmond native led the Sooners in both scoring and rebounding with 22 and 8, respectively. True freshman point guard De’Vion Harmon came off the bench again tonight and came up huge for OU in the second half, scoring all nine of his points down the stretch.

Both teams raced to fast starts out of the gate, trading bucket for bucket until the game reached a quick 10-10 tie. Then Texas maintained its groove while Oklahoma started to commit sloppy turnovers and get stagnant offensively. The Longhorns’ first half lead ballooned up to nine multiple times before the Sooners regained their mojo over the last seven minutes. As a result, OU went into the break on a 14-4 run, including this last second buzzer beater from sharp-shooter Austin Reaves to give the Crimson & Cream a 34-33 edge.

In the second half, Oklahoma looked like it has in most second halves this season — better than it did in the first. Fortunately for OU, that meant improving upon its one-point lead at the half by building as much as a 12 point lead before Texas scored one final bucket to bring the game to its final score. As mentioned previously, Harmon was a big spark for the Sooners in the second half, coming up with multiple and-one opportunities off of steals or timely isolation plays. Meanwhile, UT had to resort to the three-ball for much of the game because of the crowded defense it faced inside, but wound up shooting an abysmal 8-29 from deep.

Sophomore guard Jamal Bieniemy was also a key player in the win over the Longhorns, scoring 11 points and cracking double figures for only the third time this season and the first time since November.

On Saturday, Jan. 11, Oklahoma will find itself away from home for the ninth time this season, this time at Iowa State (7-7, 0-2). The Cyclones swept the Sooners in both meetings last year, but have struggled coming into the new year and are currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak. Tip-off for this Big 12 contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPN2.

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