Oklahoma Basketball: Notable Numbers From Another Numbing Defeat

It’s pretty disheartening to think that Oklahoma basketball may have played its best game this season offensively on Saturday at Kansas State, but the Sooner men still lost by 11 points.

Jan 7, 2017; Manhattan, KS, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Kameron McGusty (20) puts up a shot against Kansas State Wildcats forward Zavier Sneed (20) during a game at Fred Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports /

The Sooners are still looking for the right combination in their starting five. With four-year veteran Jordan Woodard out of action for an indefinite period, head coach Lon Kruger has been shuffling his lineup.

Already this season, the OU head coach has gone with six different starting fives. That ties the most lineup changes in a single season under Kruger with the 2012-13 season, his second at Oklahoma.

Kruger is now 4-7 against the school he once coached (1986-90) and played for (1971-74). Now in his 31st year as a head coach, Kruger was a two-time Big Eight Player of the Year (1973 and ’74) when he played at Kansas State.

The former K-Stater is 1-5 in games coached for Oklahoma against his alma mater in Manhattan, Kan.

Here are a dozen notable numbers from the Sooners fifth consecutive loss against the Wildcats in games played at Kansas State:

1 – The game at Kansas State was the first time this season that Oklahoma has made at least 50 percent of its shots and lost.

6 – Freshman Matt Freeman saw just nine minutes of action at Kansas State, but contributed a three-point field goal for the sixth time in the last seven games.

Jan 3, 2017; Fort Worth, TX, USA; TCU Horned Frogs guard Alex Robinson (25) dribbles between Oklahoma Sooners guard Darrion Strong-Moore (0) and guard Christian James (3) during the second half at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. TCU won 60-57. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports /

10 – Junior-college transfer Darrion Strong-Moore has scored 10 points in both of his last two games. He had not scored in double figures this season until Tuesday night at TCU.

13 – Kansas State had 13 fast-break points to Oklahoma’s four. Nine of KSU’s fast-break points came in the opening half, when the Wildcats built a 16-point halftime lead.

16 – Kansas State built a 16-point advantage at 25-9 a little less than nine minutes into the game

20 – Points scored by freshman guard Kameron McGusty, a career high and the first 20-point game for a Sooner freshman since Jordan Woodard scored 24 against West Virginia in 2014.

29 – Points scored by the Oklahoma bench vs. K-State, 19 more than the Wildcat reserves. The Sooners are averaging 29.3 bench points in their three Big 12 games.

38:45 – Time out of 40 minutes in which Kansas State led the Sooners on Saturday. OU never led in the game; the score was tied for a little over a minute in the early going.

50 – Fifty of Oklahoma’s 64 points in the game were contributed by Sooner underclassmen.

54 – Kansas State’s shooting percentage against Oklahoma. The Sooners sit next to last in the Big 12 this season in field-goal percentage defense.

68 – The Sooners’ shooting percentage in the second half at K-State. OU made 15 of its 22 field-goal tries in the second half and shot 52 percent for the game. The second-half percentage was the highest in any half this season for the Sooners.

74.3 – Percentage of points that have come from OU freshmen and sophomores.

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