Oklahoma Basketball: Ryan Spangler Unloads on Slowdown-Bent Pokes

It was an ugly start for the home Oklahoma basketball team on Wednesday night.

Ryan Spangler held the Sooners together in the first half, and the rest of his teammates got in the act in the second half, outscoring Bedlam rival Oklahoma State 44-25 over the second 20 minutes in pulling away from the seriously undermanned Cowboys for a 71-49 victory and a sweep of the season series.

Spangler scored 19 of the Sooners 27 first-half points, including three three-point shots, the final one coming at the buzzer ending the opening half and giving Oklahoma its first lead in the game at 27-24.

OU had scored just seven points midway through the first half, falling victim to poor Sooner shooting, good defense by Oklahoma State and what appeared to be a well-executed OSU game plan of slowing down the game and holding onto the ball late into the shot clock on offense.

The Oklahoma State strategy worked for most of the opening 20 minutes, but the Cowboys began getting sloppy with the ball and missing shots after intermission as the Sooners tightened up their defense. As the Cowboys miscues mounted, Oklahoma’s transition opportunities also increased, and a 21-9 Sooner run early in the second half pretty much ended OSU’s Bedlam series upset bid.

The 4th-ranked Sooners earned their 22nd victory of the season against five overall losses and now are 10-5 in the Big 12 and tied with West Virginia, two games back of conference-leading Kansas.

A lot went wrong in the early going of the game for Oklahoma, but by game’s end there is a lot that went well for the Sooners. Here is a recap:

What went right:

• Ryan Spangler had his best overall performance of the season, scoring a career-high 26 points and pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Spangler had 22 three-pointers this season entering the game, but he had not made a three-point shot in the month of February. He connected on four of six in this game.
• The Sooners made 10 of 22 three-balls, the 15th time this season they have made 10 or more treys in a game. Five different OU players hit three-point shots in the game, averaging 46 percent as a team.
• For the second-straight game, three-point-minded Oklahoma outscored its opponent down low in the paint. The Sooners held a 32-16 advantage over the Cowboys in points in the paint.
• Oklahoma also outscored its Bedlam rival 22-9 in points off of turnovers and 16-2 in fast-break points, both of which played right into the Sooners’ strength.
• Oklahoma defensive pressure forced 18 Oklahoma State turnovers in the game.
• Fifteen Sooner players saw action in the game.

What went wrong for the Sooners in the game:

• Oklahoma had another poor-shooting, slow start (if they do this on the road on Saturday against Texas, they probably won’t survive into the second half). The Sooners’ began the game missing eight of their first 10 shots. Ryan Spangler scored 19 of the team’s 27 first-half points. Buddy Hield had five first-half points and Dinjiyl Walker hit a three-point shot. That was the totality of OU’s first-half points.
• The Sooners committed eight first-half turnovers, but just four TOs in the second half.
• Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard combined for just nine points in the game. Both are averaging in double digits for the season. Fortunately, Ryan Spangler exceeded his season average by 16 points.
• Khadeem Lattin had just three points and a single rebound in the game. He did have three blocked shots, however. Lattin missed three slam dunks in the opening half.
• Oklahoma missed 9 of 22 free-throw attempts (Buddy Hield was perfect on five free throws, however).