Playing just their second game of the season, the Oklahoma basketball men upped their record to 2-0 and claimed their first Big 12 win of 2020-21 in the process.
It’s been a long time since Oklahoma has opened its conference season this early in the season, but the Sooners began Big 12 play this year with an 82-78 victory on the road at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena with no fans present.
It will be interesting as the season goes on to see how not having fans at games affects home court advantage with no fans in the stands because of COVID restrictions.
Senior Austin Reeves led the Sooners and all scorers with 32 points, including 16 of 18 from the free-throw line. Reeves’ free throw with three seconds left sealed the win, stretching the OU lead to four points at 82-78.
The teams went back and forth in the second half, trading off the lead before the Sooners took the lead for good, 67-65, on a three-point shot by Reeves with 6:25 remaining in the game. TCU held a three-point 42-39 lead at halftime.
Brady Manek had 14 points for OU, including a huge bucket that put the Sooners up 81-77 with just eight seconds to go. Manek was 6 of 13 from the field but just one of four from three-point range after making a career-high 8 of 11 in the Sooners season-opening win over UT-San Antonio on Thursday.
Sophomore De’Vion Harmon added 13 points off the bench, his second straight game in double digits. He scored 22 in the season opener.
For the second straight game, the Sooners shot better than 50 percent, making 28 of their 54 field-goal tries (51.9 percent) and 6 of 18 from beyond the arc.
TCU freshman guard Mike Miles led the Horned Frogs with 21 points coming off the bench, including three treys. Starters PJ Fuller and RJ Nembhard contributed 15 and 18 points respectively.
It was a relatively cleanly played game, with both teams committing just eight turnovers.
Oklahoma’s next scheduled game is Dec. 9 against Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, as part of the Big 12/Big East Challenge.