Oklahoma basketball: OU’s learnings for national title game
By Chip Rouse
The 2020-21 Oklahoma basketball season ended two weeks ago. Since then, the Sooners have retired on coach and added another.
So even though the Oklahoma season has been over for a couple of weeks now, OU is still making hoops news. And there may even be something to learn from this past Sooner season as we await the final game of the college basketball season in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship title game Monday night.
The Sooners played both teams during the season. Their final game of the season was against top-seeded and undefeated Gonzaga in the second round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. OU put up a gallant fight — although not nearly as tightly contested a game as UCLA gave the Zags in the national semifinals on Saturday — before losing by 16, 87-71.
Oklahoma trailed by a dozen at the half after leading for almost nine minutes in the opening 20 minutes. Gonzaga controlled the game for most of the second stanza, but OU had cut the deficit to nine points with just a couple of ticks over two minutes remaining.
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
Although that might not sound like anything to brag about, the Sooners managed to keep the game competitive without the services of their second leading scorer, De’Vion Harmon, who was unavailable because of COVID-19 issues.
All Big 12 First-Teamer Austin Reaves was the savior for the Sooners against the Zags, scoring 27 points, mainly because he was able to get into the paint and to the rim on dibble drives to the basket. Thirty-two of Oklahoma’s 71 points were scored in the paint area.
Oklahoma played Baylor, at Baylor, early in January and well before the Bears were forced to pause their basketball operations because of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. The Sooners trailed by 17 at the half and ended up losing by 15, 76-61.
The Sooners shot just 36 percent from the floor in the Baylor game, but shot 50 percent against the Gonzaga defense, in large part because of Baylor’s defensive pressure, especially out on the perimeter.
Baylor’s rebounding advantage (+11) was greater against the Sooners than Gonzaga’s (+8), which led to more second-chance points by the Bears.
Both teams were able to score at least a dozen points off of OU turnovers.
The Baylor starting guards are arguably the best in the country. MaCio Teague scored a team-high 17 points against Oklahoma and reserve guard Adam Flagler added 15. But Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell were held to just eight apiece, and they are the two most dangerous Baylor scoring threats.
If Gonzaga is unable to contain either or both Butler or Mitchell, Baylor has a very good chance of ruining the Zags perfect season.
Gonzaga has commanded the headlines and the No. 1 ranking wire to wire this season, and practically everyone associated with college basketball is picking the Zags to finish the job.
I wouldn’t be so sure. These two teams were scheduled to play during the regular season, but the game was cancelled because of COVID issues at Baylor.
Baylor could have spoiled Gonzaga’s unbeaten season back in December. They’ll get that chance again on Monday night.
Just how much did the nail-biter against UCLA take out of Gonzaga — Baylor certainly didn’t have any issue whatsoever in its win over Houston — we’ll find out Monday night?