Oklahoma Sooners down rival Texas Longhorns, 88-85

Jan 4, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Buddy Hield (24) controls the ball against Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Taylor (1) during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Oklahoma beat Texas 88-55. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

The last time the Sooners mens basketball team won a game in Austin, Terrell Everett, Taj Gray, and Kevin Bookout were running things in Norman under the coaching of Kelvin Sampson. That was nearly nine years ago; February 28, 2005 to be exact.

The times have changed since the days of Sampson, though.

Now it’s Lon Kruger at the helm of the Sooners. Cameron Clark, Buddy Hield, Ryan Spangler, Isaish Cousins, and Jordan Woodard are running the show. And this is a fun OU hoops squad.

The Sooners took care of their archrival Texas Longhorns, 88-85, giving Oklahoma a 1-0 start in the Big 12.

Saturday night inside the Frank Erwin Center, OU came out flat, but then the three balls started flying.

Oklahoma hit 13 three-pointers in the game, ten of them coming in the first half. Oklahoma took an eleven point lead, but a late Longhorn run in the first half, which included a Javan Felix three—who scored a game-high 28 points—with four seconds left put the Horns down only four heading in to the locker room.

The Sooners saw their lead slip away in the second half early, but this team would not walk out of Austin without a win.

Buddy Hield was a huge catalyst for Oklahoma, going 8-of-14 from the field and lead the Sooners with 22 points. Isaiah Cousins also had a nice 13 point outing, though he was ejected late in the second half after receiving a second technical foul.

Jordan Woodard, as well as he gets to the free throw line, gave Oklahoma a lead they would never lose with 1:53 left in the game. After hitting six free throws in the final minute, Woodard missed a pair of free throws with 0:15 left in the game with a three point margin between the Sooners and Longhorns.

Texas’ Damarcus Croaker grabbed the rebound from Woodard’s last failed free throw attempt and took the game-tying three to send it in to overtime, but he could not convert securing the victory for the boys in crimson.

The Sooners improve to 12-2 on the year and avoid back-to-back losses after their devastating overtime loss to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs last Monday.

Oklahoma will now try to rebuild their win streak, starting with the Kansas Jayhawks this Wednesday. This will be the first home game of Oklahoma’s conference slate and is scheduled for a 6 P.M. CST tip-off. Oklahoma will serve as Kansas’ Big 12 opener, which gives OU the opportunity to put KU at the bottom of the standings with a loss.

The game will be nationally tevelised on ESPN 2 and streamed on Watch ESPN.