Oklahoma basketball: Sooners wreck Texas Tech’s perfect Big 12 record
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma basketball returned home after a tough loss at West Virginia and got back on the winning track, defeating No. 8 Texas Tech for the Sooners third win over a top-10 opponent this season.
OU got off to a sluggish start, not shooting all that well in the early going, but Trae Young and Company found the range in the second half, overcoming a two-point deficit in the opening 20 minutes and taking command in the second half in pulling away for a 75-65 victory and improving to 3-1 in Big 12 play.
Oklahoma, which improved to 13-2 on the season and 3-1 in the Big 12, shot 31 percent in the first half, but heated up after the break, firing at a 56-percent clip to take control of the game.
Young, the nation’s scoring leader at 29.4 a game, scored 27 points, all but nine coming in the second half, and dished out nine assists in leading the way to the Oklahoma victory, the Sooners 11th in their past dozen games.
The Sooners shot just 41 percent for the game, but that was against the fourth-best scoring defense in the country. Coming into the game, the Red Raiders (14-2, 3-1) were limiting opponents to under 60 points a game and just 37 percent shooting. Oklahoma played exceptionally on the defensive end, holding Texas Tech to just 37-percent shooting, 12 point below their season average, and 16 points under their scoring average.
Senior Khadeem Lattin had one of his best game’s of the season, scoring 11 points on four-of-five shooting, grabbing eight rebounds and contributing seven blocked shots. Christian James delivered 15 points, including three treys, and Rashard Odomes added nine.
Keenan Evans, the Red Raiders leading scorer on the season produced a team-high 19 points, but not other Red Raider reached double figures.
Oklahoma scored 17 points off of 15 Texas Tech turnovers. The Sooners managed just 29 points in the first half, but erupted for 46 second-half points in outscoring the Red Raiders 46-34 over the final 20 minutes.
The Sooners made good on 7 of 22 three-point shots, but at one point in the first half were 0 for 9 from three-point range. Young, who averages three treys per game, did not make his first three-point shot until nearly three minutes into the second half. He ended up with 4 out of 10 from long range.
Next up for Oklahoma is a home rematch with TCU, ranked No. 16 this week in the Associated Press Top 25, on Saturday. Oklahoma won the first game, coming from behind late for a 90-89 victory.