Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma basketball: Sooners a no-show in Bedlam reboot

By Chip Rouse

AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Austin Reaves #12 of the Oklahoma Sooners plays defense against the Texas Longhorns at The Frank Erwin Center on January 08, 2020 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Austin Reaves #12 of the Oklahoma Sooners plays defense against the Texas Longhorns at The Frank Erwin Center on January 08, 2020 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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Things looked good early for the Oklahoma basketball team in Bedlam Part II against Oklahoma State, but that was before the home Cowboys found their shooting touch and began a stampede that ended in an 83-66 OSU rout.

The Sooners (16-11, 6-8) jumped out to a 21-11 lead nine and a half minutes into the first half, but then went cold for the next five minutes while Oklahoma State mounted a 13-0 run to erase the deficit and go up by three, 24-21.

Oklahoma regained the lead briefly at 28-27, but that was the last time the Sooners would not be in the red (pun intended) the remainder of the game. Senior Cameron McGriff scored 16 of his game-high 28 points in the opening half, as the Cowboys went to the locker room at halftime leading 42-36.

Twenty-two of Oklahoma State’s 42 first-half points were scored in the paint.

Austin Reaves and Kristian Doolittle had nine points a piece for the Sooners in the first half, but in the second half, Reaves was about the only offense for Oklahoma. Reaves ended up with a team-high 22 points. Doolittle contributed 13 points. No other Sooner starter had more than three points, with Brady Manek, who scored 30 in OU’s win over Oklahoma State in the first game between the two teams this season, scoring just two points on one-for-eight shooting.

Reserve guard De’Vion Harmon put in a bunch of points late and finished with 11, the only other Oklahoma player in double digits.

After a 31-15 run to end the first half, Oklahoma State scored the first eight points in the second to take a commanding 14-point advantage. The Sooners had no answer for the Cowboys shooters, who were seemingly making shots inside, outside and all over the floor.

You know the basketball gods are looking out for you when a desperation three-point shot by Oklahoma State’s Thomas Dziagwa, with the shot clock about to go to zero, swishes through the net from about 30 feet away from the basket.

Oklahoma crept back to within six points, at 59-53, with a little over nine minutes remaining in the game and were within seven, 62-57, before Oklahoma State responded with another scoring run, this one 14-0, effectively putting the game on ice.

The loss is OU’s third straight and the first time this season the Sooners have lost more than two games in a row.

This was a game Oklahoma needed to win in their bid to make a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. If they weren’t on the proverbial “bubble” before, they definitely are now after a 17-point blowout at Oklahoma State.

Now, Lon Kruger and his Sooners must regroup and find a way to win at home on Tuesday, when they host a good Texas Tech team.

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