OU basketball: Numbers that matter from Red River rampage
By Chip Rouse
Saturday has not been kind to Oklahoma basketball in the calendar year 2018.
The Sooners have played seven Saturday games since the calendar changed to the new year, and they’ve lost six of them, but none have been more upsetting (no pun intended) than the 77-66 loss suffered at home to Texas on this Saturday.
We’ve said it before and it bears repeating: If you can’t put the ball in the basket and can’t keep your opponent from doing so, you’re not going to win many basketball games. On Saturday, Oklahoma was the epitome of that maxim.
The Sooners shot a deplorable 30.8 percent for the game, and it was even worse in the opening 20 minutes, when they made just 8 field goals in 31 attempts, a rate of 25.8 percent. Oklahoma was 8 of 30 from three-point range (26.7 percent) for the game.
Those shooting numbers compare with a .471 OU field-goal percentage for the season and .371 from behind the three-point arc.
While Oklahoma was floundering offensively, Texas was lighting it up at the other end. The Longhorns shot 54.5 percent for the game, 11 points better than their season average, and were 17 of 27 in the second half for 63 percent.
The Sooners took 10 more shots in the game (20 for 65) than Texas (30 for 55) and made 10 fewer shots. Easily, OU’s worst offensive performance of the season.
Here are some more mostly disappointing numbers that mattered from the game:
3 – Consecutive games Texas had lost before winning at Oklahoma on Saturday. Oklahoma has not lost five in a row.
7 – The Sooners are two losses shy of tying their longest losing streak last season. They lost seven games in a row twice in 2016-17.
8 – Number of games Oklahoma has lost out of its last 10 games.
4-15 – The Sooners made 4 of 15 three-point attempts in both halves on Saturday, finishing the game with 8 out of 30 (26.7 percent) 10 points under their 37-percent season average from long range.
16 – Points by which Texas outscored Oklahoma in the paint (40-24).
18 – Career-high rebounds by Mohamed Bamba of Texas to go with 10 points.
20 – Trae Young missed 20 consecutive three-point shots going back three games, before finally making one in the second half against the Longhorns. He was 3 for 10 from three-point range in the game.
33.3 – Trae Young’s shooting percentage in the game with Texas (7 of 21). He has averaged 49.1 percent in Big 12 games at home before Saturday.
39:19 – Time that Texas led in the game. The game was tied at 0-0 the other 41 seconds.
54 – Four Texas starters scored 54 of Texas’ 77 points in the game, led by Dylan Osetkowski with 21.