Oklahoma Basketball: Buddy Hield Takes Over Late as Sooners Stave Off Upset

Oklahoma basketball superstar Buddy Hield on Saturday put an end to the debate over who should be Player of the Year this college basketball season.

Over an 11 minute span in the second half with LSU leading No. 1-ranked Oklahoma by 14 points, the Sooners rode the by now all-too-common hot hand of Hield and went on a 28-13 run to take its first lead in the game, 66-65, at the 4:07 mark in the second half.

The OU All-American made seven of his eight treys in the game in the second half, three of them coming in a critical three-minute stretch that seemingly sucked the life out of a fired-up LSU team that had the Sooners on the ropes for a good portion of the contest.

Jan 30, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins (11) shoots over LSU Tigers guard Jalyn Patterson (15) during the second half of a game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Oklahoma defeated LSU 77-75. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

Hield ended with his eighth 30-point game of the season, going for 32 points – all but 11 coming in the defining second half – on 11 of 22 from the floor and 8 of 15 from three-point range. Meanwhile his superstar counterpart on the LSU side of the ledger, freshman sensation Ben Simmons, was successful on six of his seven shots, but was held to 14 points for the game, five below his season average.

Credit the Sooner defense against LSU’s Simmons. He had just one shot one shot over the final 10 minutes of the game, a put-back tip-in with 10:01 remaining in the game. While Oklahoma did a superb job containing the LSU big gun, junior guard Tim Quarterman more than picked up the slack. putting in a team-high 18 points, including 5-for-5 from long range.

With the Sooners leading 75-72 and under 30 seconds left in the game, LSU showed it wasn’t going to go quietly, with Antonio Blakeney burying a three-point shot to knot the game at 75-all. Following a timeout, Oklahoma in-bounded the ball and held for the last shot. Isaiah Cousins drove into the lane and let fly a short jumper that rippled through the nylon net for his 17th and 18th points of the game and served as the final dagger in the Tigers’ upset bid.

LSU’s Quarterman penetrated all the way to the rim in a last-gasp attempt to extend or win the game with a three-point play, but his layup attempt was swatted away by the Sooners’ shot-blocker extaordinaire Khadeem Lattin.

Game over, as the Sooners escape, overcoming their biggest halftime deficit of the season and ringing up win No. 18 in a magical season. It also represented win number 100 in head coach Lon Kruger’s five seasons at Oklahoma. He is only the fourth active coach in Division I play with 100 or more wins at three different schools.