Oklahoma basketball: Notable numbers from an special season
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma basketball win over TCU on March probably secured the Sooners an at-large bid to the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
That was the probability, but in reality, we’ll never know for sure because the 2020 NCAA Tournament and all college sports have been cancelled indefinitely because of the unprecedented nationwide crisis surrounding the coronavirus, which has reached global pandemic levels.
The Sooners posted a 9-9 conference record in the Big 12, their first record of .500 or better in league competition since 2015-16, and their .613 winning percentage overall (19-12) is also the best by an OU team since the 2015-16 team with Buddy Hield that made it all the way to the Final Four. The latter team finished the season at 29-8 (.784) and, ironically, in third place in the Big 12 standings, the same as this season.
Oklahoma’s performance this season can be described as schizophrenic. When the Sooners were on their game, they were really good; when they weren’t making shots, they played really bad, losing several games they probably should have won.
On a scale of one to ten, the OU performance this season probably rates a 6.5, very close to what the final win percentage was. A third-place finish is nothing to sneeze at, but it very easily could have been seventh place had the Sooners not made the remarkable comeback they did in pulling out a 78-76 victory over TCU on the final weekend of the regular season — and what turned out to be the college basketball season for Oklahoma.
Here are some of the notable numbers that help tell the story of the 2019-20 Oklahoma men’s basketball season:
4 — Kristian Doolittle recorded 4 four 20-point double-doubles (20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds in a single game) this season, the most in the Big 12.
11.6 — Turnovers per game by the Sooners this season. fewest in the Big 12.
15.8 — Kristian Doolittle’s scoring average, fourth best in the Big 12 this season. The Sooner senior also finished fourth in the conference in rebounding, averaging 8.9 per game.
28.0 — Oklahoma’s lowest shooting percentage of the season in a 52-51 loss to Texas late in the season. The Sooners made just 14 of 50 field-goal attempts.
41 — Career-high points scored by junior shooting guard Austin Reaves in OU’s win at TCU in the final game of the regular season. His point total represented 52 percent of the Sooners scoring for the game (78).
52 — Lowest point total of the season by Oklahoma, a 66-52 home loss to Kansas in January.
55.2 — Oklahoma’s highest shooting percentage of the season in a 91-64 win over Maryland Eastern Shore in November.
60 — OU scored under 60 points six times this season, twice against Baylor.
71 — Three-point field goals by Brady Manek this season, placing his fourth in the Big 12.
77.0 — The Sooners’ Big 12-best free-throw percentage as a team.
91 — Most points scored in a game by the Sooners this season. They did it twice: 91-64 against Maryland Eastern Shore and 91-72 against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. They also scored 90 in a 91-64 victory over Iowa State. All three games were at Lloyd Noble Center.