Oklahoma basketball: Numbers that mattered from a season-saving win
By Chip Rouse
Turnovers and production off the bench have plagued men’s Oklahoma basketball all season, but on Friday night in a must-win-game against Iowa State those two areas of concern became game-winning assets.
The Sooners committed a season low six turnovers and turned 14 Iowa State turnovers into 22 points on the way to an 81-60 victory in the regular-season home finale.
Entering the game with Iowa State, Oklahoma ranked 215th in turnovers among NCAA Division I teams, averaging 13.4 per game.
With three former starters coming off the bench, the Oklahoma backups outscored their counterparts from Iowa State 26-2, which was a key factor in the Sooners’ balanced scoring attack. Three OU starters scored in double figures, led by Christian James with 18 points. Three other Sooners scored at least eight points in the contest.
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
“It was a great team performance,” said senior forward Khadeem Lattin in the OU press briefing after the game. “We played great defense, we moved the ball well.”
Lattin was the lone Sooner honored on Senior Night at the Lloyd Nobel Center.
Oklahoma now moves on to the Big 12 Tournament and the waiting period to find out its fate and where the Sooners might be headed in the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
Here are some other numbers that mattered from OU’s 21-point win on Friday night:
10 – The 21-point win over Iowa State was the first time Oklahoma has won a game by more than 10 points since a 20-point win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 3.
10 – Sophomore Kristian Doolittle had 10 rebounds in the game to lead the Sooners.
15 – Points scored by Trae Young in Friday’s game vs. Iowa State. That point total was his third lowest scoring outing of the season. Young scored 15 points in OU’s season-opener against Nebraska-Omaha and scored a season-low 11 in a 30-point loss at Kansas.
18 – Kameron McGusty’s 18 points was his third-highest scoring game of the season. On two previous occasions he scored 22 points.
22 – The Sooners advantage over Iowa State in Friday’s game on points scored in the paint (42-20).
30+ – All five Iowa State starters played at least 30 minutes in the game.
32.3 – OU held Iowa State to 32.3-percent shooting in the game. That is over 10 points below the Cyclones’ season average.
231 – Career blocked shots by Khadeem Lattin, the new all-time leader in that category in Sooner basketball history. Lattin had one block on Friday night, breaking a tie with former OU player Al Beal, who has held the record since 1980.