Oklahoma appeared destined to be headed for one more shut end in a one-score recreation halfway via the second half of Tuesday’s recreation in opposition to Texas Tech.
In a battle of two groups ranked among the many backside three within the Big 12 standings, the Sooners had been struggling to sustain amid a troublesome shooting night in opposition to a Red Raider squad that was coping with its personal offensive struggles.
Coming out of a timeout, the Sooners discovered Milos Uzan open within the nook for a 3-pointer to reduce a six-point deficit down to three.
Then, like a swap went off contained in the Lloyd Noble Center, the Sooners went chilly on each ends of the courtroom.
The Sooners would slowly watch a two-possession recreation flip right into a seven-point deficit with simply over a minute remaining. With Oklahoma desperately searching for a turnover, the Red Raiders discovered vast open house behind the Sooners’ protection for a game-sealing dunk.
The 74-63 loss provides the Sooners two-straight and 6 of their final seven since knocking off No. 2 Alabama.
“They do a good job,” OU head coach Porter Moser mentioned. “They were just completely packing the paint and they rotate so much. You weren’t getting much, they were daring you to shoot.”
The Sooners took a season-high 33 3-pointers on Tuesday, six greater than their earlier season excessive, which additionally got here in opposition to Texas Tech. They solely knocked down 9 of these makes an attempt to shoot a lowly 27% from behind the arc within the recreation.
“When we beat them here last time we had 13 three’s,” Moser mentioned. “I think when we beat them there we had (nine) three’s. We knew we were going to have to knock down some shots. Not to the extent where they just didn’t play a couple of guys, but I thought for the most part we had some good looks.”
The Red Raiders had been led by a continuing paint presence in Fardaws Aimaq, who completed with a game-high 19 factors on 9 of 15 shooting and 10 rebounds. OU redshirt senior Tanner Groves led the Sooners in scoring regardless of having a troublesome matchup in opposition to the 6-11 ahead.
Groves scored 16 factors on 5 of seven shooting and had two makes from behind the arc.
The Sooners had been out-rebounded 38-22 and had been out-scored within the paint 40-24.
“I’d love to do what a lot of teams in this league do which is switch one through five, but we’re not able to do that,” Moser mentioned. “I think when he rolls you have to cover the hole and I thought we were covering the hole well pretty much until the last four minutes. We had a guy that hasn’t played many minutes that missed his assignment and all the sudden they got loose there.”
Oklahoma will look to put an finish to its shedding streak when it travels to face Iowa State on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Cortez releases assertion on latest absence
Sophomore guard Bijan Cortes introduced on Twitter on Tuesday that he will probably be “taking some time away from basketball” due to private causes. The Kingfisher native appeared in 26 video games and had one begin this season.
Tarik Masri is a sports activities reporter for The Transcript overlaying OU athletics and space sports activities. You can attain him by emailing [email protected]
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