Oklahoma basketball: Numbers to know from Red River revenge
By Chip Rouse
In a battle of teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble, Oklahoma basketball avenged an earlier loss to Texas and a three-game losing streak against he longtime rival Longhorns, claiming a narrow 69-67 victory at the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.
The victory, the Sooners 17th overall and fifth along with nine losses in Big 12 play, marks the first time Oklahoma has won back-to-back Big 12 games this season.
Oklahoma narrowly avoided surrendering a 17-point second-half advantage and, incredibly, the game as Texas fought back to within two points and had the ball with a chance to win, only to have a three-point shot by Matt Coleman blocked by OU freshman Jamal Bieniemy as time ran out.
The Sooners got off to a fast start in the game, shooting 57 percent in the first half, including six of nine from behind the three-point line, and held the Texas offense to just 33 percent, building up a 14-point halftime advantage.
Oklahoma widened their lead to 17 points, 48-31, three minutes into the second half. The Longhorns outplayed the Sooners for most of the second half, and came dangerously close to making a complete comeback and stealing this important game from Oklahoma.
The Sooners have four games remaining in the regular season, and probably need to win three of the four to secure their chances of making a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth under head coach Lon Kruger.
The problem is two of those remaining games are on the road and against two of the best teams in the Big 12 (at Iowa State on Monday and at Kansas State to close out the regular season) and at home against 14-time defending conference champion Kansas. Oklahoma also has a home contest remaining against last-place West Virginia.
Here are the numbers to know from another OU-Texas rivalry barn burner:
0-5 — Oklahoma missed all five of its three-point shots in the second half after going six-of-nine from the perimeter in the first half.
5 — All five Texas starters scored in double figures in the game, paced by sophomore Jase Febres, who was replacing Kerwin Roach, the Longhorns’ top scorer, who this past week was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
9 — OU collected nine offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points.
11 — Oklahoma had an 11-point advantage over the Longhorns (37-26) in points in the paint.
15 — The Sooners scored 15 points off of five Texas turnovers.
19 — Game high point total by OU senior Christian James, including four-of-eight 3-pointers.
31 — Three-point tries by Texas. The Longhorns made 10 of the 31 three-balls (32.3 percent).
39-31 — The Sooners’ rebounding advantage over the Longhorns in Red River II on Saturday. OU is 13-1 this season when it outrebounds its opponent.
42 — Oklahoma is now 16-3 in 2018-19 when scoring at least 30 points in the first half. OU scored 42 first-half points in the win over Texas.