Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma basketball: Sooners escape by skin of their teeth

By Chip Rouse

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after making a three point basket in the first half against the Mississippi Rebels during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after making a three point basket in the first half against the Mississippi Rebels during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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This was one of those games in which you keep waiting around for things to finally get going. And for Oklahoma basketball on Saturday afternoon that time almost didn’t come against scrappy Central Florida.

The Sooners didn’t get command of the game until fewer than four minutes remained in the game. And it wasn’t until a UCF three-point shot missed the mark with the final seconds ticking down that the Oklahoma home crowd at Lloyd Noble Center could take a collective breath.

A made three-point shot by junior forward Brady Manek gave the Sooners the lead for good, 47-46 with 4:16 to go in the game. Oklahoma did not get its first lead in the game until midway through the second half, and that was short lived.

Manek led the Sooners with 13 points, including three made three-balls, and 10 rebounds. Senior Kristian Doolittle added a dozen points.

This was Oklahoma’s first game back home after five straight away games.

Oklahoma did not shoot well in Saturday’s game — just 32.3 percent on 21 of 65 field-goal attempts. Fortunately, either did the Knights of Central Florida, who fared even worse, at 31.3 percent.

For the fourth consecutive game, Oklahoma turned the ball over 10 or fewer times, totaling 10 for the game.

Unlike the last game, when 41 fouls were whistled in an 83-73 Sooner loss at Creighton, only 15 fouls were called. Both OU and UCF shot just six foul shots, making five.

The win improves Oklahoma’s record to 8-3, with just one more nonconference game, on Dec. 30 at home against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, before the start of Big 12 play.

Here are a few more notable numbers that tell the story of the game:

6 — Points by Austin Reaves, who led the Sooners coming into the game with a 17.7 scoring average.

10 — Oklahoma committed only 10 turnovers, but UCF turned those 10 Sooner TOs into 10 points.

17 — Bench points by the Oklahoma reserves.

28 — Points in the paint by UCF; OU collected 14 points in close to the basket.

53 — Oklahoma’s 53 points against UCF is the Sooners’ lowest scoring output of the season. The previous low was 54 points in a loss to Stanford.

6,875 — Attendance at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman for the game.

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