Oklahoma Basketball: Sooners Lose in Bedlam Battle to Bitter End
By Chip Rouse
How does that popular definition of insanity go? Oklahoma basketball has gone almost an entire season now stuck in the same old depressing rut.
I can’t begin to count how many times this season the Sooners have let a second-half lead slip away in the waning moments. All I know is it has happened way more than it should and is the overwhelming reason Oklahoma’s season record is well under water as the 2016-17 rebuilding campaign draws painfully close to conclusion.
The Sooners led Oklahoma State by double digits more than halfway through the second half and on the Cowboys’ home floor, but once again the Crimson and Cream could not close out the game.
That is the point in the game when Oklahoma State guard Juwan Evans took over the game, scoring 16 of his 27 points in the final seven minutes, igniting the Cowboys on a late comeback, a thrilling 96-92 victory over their in-state rivals and their seventh Big 12 win in their last eight conference games.
The Sooner loss gave Oklahoma State a season sweep of the Bedlam basketball series against Oklahoma and the Cowboys first victory over the Sooners in Stillwater in the past four games.
The defeat also overshadowed a career performance by Sooner sophomore Rashard Odomes who contributed 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting and also pulled down 10 rebounds. His previous career high was a 24-point performance in an OU win over Texas Tech earlier this season.
Holding a 90-85 advantage with five minutes remaining in the contest, the Sooners went into their all too frequent disappearing act offensively, failing to make a field goal the rest of the way. Oklahoma missed its final six shots from the field, scoring its only two points on a pair of free throws by Odomes with 1:31 to go.
Odomes second free throw put Oklahoma up by one at 92-91, but the young Sooners failed to convert after that.
Oklahoma falls to 9-17 on the season and 3-11 in the Big 12. The Cowboys, who began conference play with a surprising six consecutive losses are now even in Big 12 action with a record of 7-7 and recorded win number 18 for the season to go with nine losses.
Four Sooners reached double figures in the scoring column (Odomes 29, Christian James and Dante Buford with 13 and Kameron McGusty 10). Three Cowboys, however, exceeded 20 points in the game (Evans 27, Jeffrey Carroll 23 and Phil Forte 22).
Other numbers of note in the game:
13 – In addition to Rashard Odomes’ career-high 29-point effort, Dante Buford tallied a season-high 13 points.
13 – Sophomore Christian James broke out of a prolonged shooting slump with 13 points against the Cowboys (he was 4 for 30 coming into the game with Oklahoma State).
14 – Kameron McGusty extended his consecutive-game streak reaching double digits in scoring with 10 points against the Cowboys. He has reached double figures in 14 consecutive games.
55.4 – Oklahoma’s shooting percentage against the Cowboys on Saturday. It marked the Sooners second best shooting performance of the season and the sixth time in 2016-17 they have exceeded 50 percent from the floor.
85 – Pointing to the future, 85 of Oklahoma’s 92 points vs. Oklahoma State on Saturday were scored by Sooner freshmen and sophomores.
92 – Oklahoma’s 92 points was its most in a Bedlam game since the Billy Tubbs era, in 1990, when the Sooners defeated Oklahoma State 107-94.
599 – Lon Kruger remains at 599 career wins, needing just one more to become the 33rd head coach in Division I basketball to record 600 wins.