It was an uphill struggle from the opening tip for the visiting Oklahoma basketball team on Saturday, and the 40-minute grind finally wore the Sooners down in an 86-68 loss to the top-ranked Auburn Tigers.
Oklahoma (13-8, 3-5) never led in the game, although they cut the Auburn closed within three points, 50-47, with 12:47 to go in the second half. The Tigers pulled away from there. Auburn closed out the game on a 10-2 run in the final two minutes to widen out the winning margin to 18 points.
Here are some notable numbers that help tell the story of the game:
8 of 27 — Oklahoma was just 8 of 27 on three-point shots in the game (29.6 percent)
9 — Auburn record nine steals in the game.
10 — Ten of the 12 Oklahoma players who saw action in the game scored.
12 — Rebounding margin for Auburn over OU (41-29). Fourteen of Auburn’s 41 rebounds in the game were offensive boards.
17 –– Second-chance points scored by Auburn (to 9 for Oklahoma).
17 — Auburn has won 17 consecutive games and is now 20-1 for the season.
19 — Senior point guard Jordan Goldwire, more known for his defense than his offense, scored a season-high 19 points to lead Oklahoma.
38 — Thirty-eight of Auburn’s 86 points were scored in close to the basket.
38.9 — Oklahoma field-goal percentage in the game, the Sooners’ second lowest shooting percentage of the season (they shot 37.5 percent in a win over Houston Baptist).
40 — Number of personal fouls whistled in the game (21 on Oklahoma, 19 on Auburn). Auburn made 22 of 26 free throws, while the Sooners were just 18 of 25 from the charity stripe.
44 — Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler combined for 44 of Auburn’s 86 points (23 by Smith and 21 by Kessler).