Oklahoma basketball: Sooners shooting woes continue in Bedlam loss at OSU

If you can’t put the ball in the basket, you’re not going to win many games, and the men’s Oklahoma basketball team is struggling mightily shooting the ball with any consistency.

The Sooners’ shooting woes continued on Saturday at Oklahoma State, and the Cowboys made the visitors pay in a 64-55 loss in round one of the 2022 Bedlam hoops series.

Oklahoma trailed 29-28 after the first half, but over a nine-minute period in the second half, the Sooners went into one of their far- too-common-this-season scoring slumps. From 16:06 in the second half to the 5:02 mark, Oklahoma State outscored Oklahoma 22-10 to open up a 51-42 advantage, and the Sooners were not able to get any closer than six points the rest of the way.

With nearly 16 minutes gone in the second half, Oklahoma had only scored 14 points in the half. The Sooners scored almost as many points in the final four minutes (13) as they did in the first 16 minutes of the half.

For the Sooners, it was their seventh loss in the last eight games. OU falls to 3-7 in Big 12 play after starting conference play with two wins in its first three games.

Here are some of the more notable numbers that tell the story of the Oklahoma’s Bedlam defeat:

5 — Oklahoma’s rebounding margin over Oklahoma State (36-31). Much different that the minus-20 differential the Sooners suffered against TCU in its last game.

7 — The Sooners’ largest lead of the game was seven points, 20-13, with 8:55 to go in the opening half.

5 of 8 — Three pointers made by Tanner Groves and Elijah Groves in the first half for Oklahoma.

8/10 — Oklahoma was the victim of eight steals by Oklahoma State and 10 blocked shots.

17 — Turnovers for the Sooners, with 11 coming in the second half.

23 — Tanner Groves led the Sooners with 23 points. Ten of those points came in the final five minutes of the game.

24 — Combined points by Tanner Groves and Elijah Harkless of Oklahoma’s 28 total points in the first half.

26 — Bench points by the Oklahoma State reserves. OU’s bench scored just 10 points.

37.7 — Oklahoma’s shooting percentage in the game (23 of 61), their second worst of the season. It was the third time in as many games that the Sooners’ field-goal percentage has been 40 percent or lower.

55 — Oklahoma’s 55 total points were the Sooners third fewest of the season.