OU Basketball on the Rebound: Sooners Almost Relive the Same Nightmare

OU basketball fans are starting to become paranoid about the closing minutes of ball games.

For the second game in a row, the Oklahoma offense has gone stone cold in the deciding minutes of the game. It cost them a win at Texas, and it almost happened all over again on Tuesday night in the regular- season home finale against Baylor.

The Sooners came out on Senior Night at Lloyd Noble Center with a red-hot shooting hand rolling out to a 26-3 advantage in the opening eight minutes and ended the half leading 46-25 on 16 points by Buddy Hield and nine three-pointers as a team. It appeared that the Sooners were on their way to a rout of 19th-ranked Baylor.

Only we’re talking about a top-25 team in Baylor that had the best road record in the Big 12 and wasn’t about the lie down and quit. OU led 65-47 with 9:02 remaining in the game, and that’s when the Sooner offense went into hiatus, just like it did on Saturday with an eight-point lead over Texas.

At the same time, Baylor went on a 21-2 run over a five-minute stretch and, with just under five minutes to go in the game, the Bears had erased a 21-point Sooner halftime lead and taken a one-point advantage at 68-67, leaving Oklahoma fans totally stunned and forced to relive the Texas nightmare all over again.

It was Baylor’s first lead in the game since scoring the game’s opening basket and going up 2-0. Fortunately for the 6th-ranked Sooners, it would be the last Baylor lead. Isaiah Cousins hit a two-point jumper to put the Sooners back up by one, and Hield closed out the Oklahoma scoring with a layup and two free throws as OU turned back the huge Baylor second-half charge to post a 73-71 victory.

What Went Right in the Game for Oklahoma

• The Sooners featured a balanced scoring attack for the first time in quite a while. Buddy Hield led the way with 23 points, 16 coming in the first half, and Ryan Spangler had another big scoring game with 15 points. Cousins added 10 points, and the other two starters, Jordan Woodard and Khadeem Lattin contributed six points each.
• Reserves Dinjiyl Walker, Dante Buford added 12 points off the bench.
• Oklahoma outrebounded Baylor 34-31, including 13 boards by Ryan Spangler, including a game-high 14 offensive rebounds, eight of them by Spangler.
• The Sooners held the Baylor offense to 9-of-27 shooting in the opening half for 33 percent.
• Oklahoma had 16 second-chance points to 11 Baylor.
• The Sooners forced 10 Baylor turnovers in the first 13 minutes of the game.
• OU turned 16 Baylor turnovers into 22 points, the seventh time this season the Sooners have scored 20 or more points off of an opponent’s turnovers.
• The Sooners upped their season record to 23-6 and 11-6 in conference play. Oklahoma began the week in a three-way tie with Baylor and Texas for third place in the Big 12 standings. With Texas and Baylor both losing on Monday and Tuesday, the Sooners now own third place outright, while the Longhorns and Bears have fallen into a fourth-place deadlock with Iowa State, all at 10-7 in the Big 12.
• Buddy Hield reached the 20-point level for the 21st time this season. His final three-pointer of the game midway through the second half broke the conference record for treys in a season. Hield now has made 121 three-point shots this season, also an Oklahoma team record.
• The Sooners’ 12 three-pointers in the game marked the 19th time in 29 games this season that they have made 10 or more three-point shots in a game.

What Went Wrong for the Sooners in the Game

• After holding Baylor to 33 percent shooting in the opening half, the Sooner defense had difficulty getting stops in the second half. The Bears found the mark on 18 of 27 shots in the second 20 minutes for a sensational 67 percent, including 6 of 10 from three-point range.
• Allowing points in the paint were again a problem for Oklahoma in this game. Baylor outscored the Sooners 35-18.
• Oklahoma only went to the free-throw line twice in the second half. Buddy Hield made two of three, all coming in the final minute of the game.
• Allowing an opponent a 19-point advantage in second-half scoring after leading by 21 points at the half is not a good sign. What it does signal is that the Sooners have great trouble closing out games.
• For the second straight game, Oklahoma allowed an opponent to go on a huge scoring run of unanswered points late in the game.