After trailing for over 27 minutes, it appeared Oklahoma was actually going to win its game with Red River rival Texas on Tuesday night, until it didn’t.
Just four-tenths of a second before the game clock hit zero, a desperation 30-foot shot by Texas’ Matt Coleman III banked off the glass and smoothly swished through the nylon net, erasing a two-point Oklahoma lead and seizing victory from the jaws of defeat for the hated Texas Longhorns.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye, the air was sucked out of an exuberant Lloyd Noble Center crowd about to break out in celebration. It was a dramatic end to an ugly, low-scoring game and a disappointing conclusion to the Sooners’ home finale for the season.
The Texas victory extended the Longhorns’ season-long five-game winning streak and ended the Sooners’ current win streak at two.
Here are some more numbers that tell the heartbreaking story of the 97th edition of the Red River basketball rivalry:
2 of 20 — Oklahoma made just 2 of 20 three-point attempts; Brady Manek, one of the best three-point shooters in the Big 12 was just 2 of 12 on three-balls.
6 — Entering Tuesday night’s game, Oklahoma had won its last six final home games of the season and 14 out of the last 16.
6 — The biggest lead by either team in the game was six points by Texas.
10/11 — There were 10 lead changes in the game (mostly in the second half) and the game was tied on 11 different occasions.
14 — Fourteen of Oklahoma’s point were on fast breaks.
27 — Oklahoma had 27 more free-throw attempts than Texas, which attempted just two free throws in the game.
28 — The Sooners shot just 28 percent for the game. Twenty-one of their 51 points came from the free-throw line.
40-40 — At the half, Texas had an 11-rebound advantage over the Sooners (24-13), but that difference was erased and reversed in the second half, with both teams ending the game with 40 rebounds.
43 — Forty-three of OU’s 51 points were scored by three players (Kristian Doolittle, 20; Austin Reaves, 13; Brady Manek, 10).
10,110 — Attendance at the Lloyd Noble Center for the game. Among the celebrities spotted in the crowd at the game were OU head football coach Lincoln Riley, country singer Toby Keith and former Sooner football player Blake “Belldozer” Bell.