Oklahoma basketball: A two-point Sooner loss at No. 8 Kansas? Go figure

The men’s Oklahoma basketball team had not won at Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse in 28 years, but you’d never believe it by the way the Sooners held their own against the Jayhawks on Saturday.

The Sooners, who last won a game at Kansas in 1993, led for 27 minutes in this game and held off the Jayhawks every time it appeared they were about to go on a run. The Sooners led by as many as eight points in the first half and led by seven early in the second half.

But as they have too many times in Big 12 play, the Sooners went cold offensively over a lethal eight-minute stretch late in the contest. After taking a 57-52 at the 10:18 mark in the second half on a three-point shot by Tanner Groves, Oklahoma missed its next seven shots from the field.

The Sooners snapped the scoring drought on a layup by Jordan Goldwire with 3:22 remaining in the game. By that time, Kansas had opened up a 63-59 advantage, outscoring OU 11-2 over that stretch.

Kansas led 70-64 with 37 seconds left to go in the game, but a deep three-pointer by Goldwire and a quick basket by Elijah Harkless off a steal of a Kansas in-bound pass cut the lead to one point, 70-69, with 17 seconds remaining.

Christian Braun made one of two free throws to give the Jayhawks a 71-69 lead, but a two-point shot by Goldwire came up short at the buzzer and Kansas was able to avoid the upset and a second-straight loss.

Here are some of the notable numbers from a game OU fans should feel especially good about even in a losing effort:

0 — Points by Umoja Gibson on just two shots in the game. Gibson scored a season-high 30 points on Wednesday this week in an Oklahoma win against Texas Tech.

4 — Kansas blocked at least four Oklahoma shots at the rim, which could have been the difference in the game.

5 — Kansas swept the season series against Oklahoma but only by a combined five points. Kansas won the earlier game this season in Norman 67-64.

8 — Stretch of minutes late in the second half during which the Sooners went scoreless and surrendered the lead to Kansas, from which OU never recovered.

8 — Oklahoma’s largest lead, coming at 8:42 in the opening half.

9 — Turnovers in the game by the Sooners. Kansas had 10 turnovers. OU had only three turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

11 — Kansas’ Ochai Ogbagi, the Big 12’s leading scorer with a 20.3 average, but he was held to just 11 points in this game. He had only 10 points in the earlier game with Oklahoma.

15-2 — Scoring run by Kansas late in the contest that enabled the Jayhawks to take the lead from which they never looked back.

19 — Points scored by OU’s Tanner Groves, including four three-balls.

20 — OU point guard Jordan Goldwire scored a season-high 20 points. His previous high game this season was a 15-point performance in the first game with Kansas earlier this season.

20 — Oklahoma scored 20 of its 34 first-half points in the paint. Getting to the rim wasn’t as easy for the Sooners in the second half.

21 — The Sooners have lost 21 consecutive games at Allen Fieldhouse against Kansas.