Top-ranked Baylor handed the men’s Oklahoma basketball team its second straight loss to a top-three team, handing the Sooners a 65-54 home loss Tuesday night.
Neither team had a particularly good shooting game, but Baylor’s 41.9 field-goal percentage was good enough to record its Big 12-record 23rd consecutive victory and 24th of the season with just one loss.
The Sooners were their own worst enemies once again, failing to make shots when they needed to and shooting just 36 percent for the game. Part of OU’s shooting inconsistency can be attributed to the stifling Baylor defense, which has been a big part of the Bears’ success this season.
Kristian Doolittle led the OU offense for the fourth straight game with 18 points. But he also encountered scoring droughts, connecting on just 5 of 14 shot attempts and with seven of his points coming at the free-throw line.
The loss drops the Sooners below .500 in conference play, at 6-7, and leaves them with a 16-10 record overall.
Oklahoma will take a two-game losing streak to Oklahoma State on Saturday for Bedlam Part II.
Here are other noteworthy numbers that tell the disappointing story of this game:
2 — Points scored by OU’s Austin Reaves, the Sooners’ third leading scorer on the season. Reaves was limited to just 24 minutes of action because of cramping.
8 — Eight of Oklahoma’s game-high 12 turnovers came off of Baylor steals.
10 — Points by Brady Manek on just 4 of 11 shooting.
10-9 — Oklahoma’s last lead in the game, at the 13-minute mark in the opening half.
11 — Baylor scored 11 points off of Oklahoma turnovers, which also was the margin of the Bears’ victory.
13-31 — Baylor’s field goals made and field goals attempted in both halves.
30-20 — Baylor outscored the Sooners 30 to 20 at close range in the paint area.
10,017 — Attendance at the Lloyd Noble Center for the game with Baylor, the second largest home crowd of the season. The biggest crowd was for Kansas (10,486).