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Oklahoma Sooners Basketball: OU bounces back with a 65-51 win over No. 22 Texas Tech

Oklahoma snapped a three-game losing skid with a wire-to-wire romp in downtown OKC.

By Seth Oliveras
NCAA Basketball: Texas Tech at Oklahoma Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday night, the Oklahoma Sooners grabbed a much needed 65-51 victory over the No. 22 Texas Tech Red Raiders (18-10, 9-6) in OKC. With the win, OU improves to 17-11 on the season and 7-8 in Big 12 play.

Oklahoma’s big three consisting of senior forward Kristian Doolittle, junior forward Brady Manek and junior guard Austin Reaves were all big factors inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. Against TTU, the trio logged 19, 15 and 11 points, respectively while collectively recording 22 rebounds, six assists, three steals and four of the team’s 10 blocks.

It was an abysmal start to the game for Texas Tech, thanks in large part to some strong defensive effort from Oklahoma and early foul trouble for Red Raiders freshman guard Jahmi’us Ramsey. In fact, TTU was held to just six points for nearly 12 minutes before finally finding a bit of rhythm. For the Sooners, Reaves led the charge on offense with his outside shooting and driving ability, helping OU extend its lead to as high as 15. Lon Kruger’s group would go into halftime leading 32-22 at the break.

In the second half, Oklahoma didn’t let up much at all to allow Texas Tech back in the game. With every Red Raiders make, OU had an answer. After Reaves’ strong play in the first 20 minutes, Manek and Doolittle rose to the occasion in the latter stage of the night to carry their team to victory. Remarkably, the Sooners were able to hold the top offense in the Big 12 to a season-low 51 points on 33% shooting.

Coming into the night, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected Oklahoma as a 12-seed and one of the ‘Last Four In’ in his latest Bracketology report. Meanwhile, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm slated the Sooners as a 10-seed. With TTU entering the week at No. 15 in the NCAA NET Rankings, OU’s win in this game served that much more importance to their overall tournament hopes.

Up next, Oklahoma travels east to Morgantown to rematch a struggling West Virginia (19-9, 7-8) squad on Saturday, Feb. 29. Earlier this month, the Sooners dominated the Mountaineers in Norman, 69-59. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

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