Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from OU’s crushing loss to Iowa State

To many, it felt like a must-win game for the men’s Oklahoma basketball tea, as it traveled to Hilton Coliseum to take on the Iowa State Cyclones.

Iowa State (18-9, 5-9) shot 67 percent from the field as the Cyclones routed Oklahoma 75-54 in Ames, Iowa. It was the third straight loss for Oklahoma (14-13, 4-10), which now has dropped six of its last seven games.

The Sooners jumped out to an 8-0 lead over Iowa State, but the Cyclones quickly erased the deficit and ended up taking a 40-25 lead at the end of the first half.

Here are three takeaways from a game that quickly got away from OU at Iowa State:

Iowa State was scorching hot at offensive end

During Big 12 play, Iowa State has struggled shooting the basketball, but you would never have known that the way the Cyclones played against the Sooners on Saturday. The Cyclones shot 33 of 49 from the field and 8 of 15 from the three-point line. For the game, Iowa State shot a sizzling 67 percent, including 53 percent with the three-ball.

Iowa State guard Izaiah Brockington had a game high 22 points and hit 77 percent of his shots in the Cyclones win.

Oklahoma couldn’t match the hot shooting of the Cyclones, but still shot over 48 percent from the field, which is good enough to win many games.  The Sooners had a solid game out of junior guard Jalen Hill and senior guard Jordan Goldwire, who each had 15 points in OU’s loss.

"“Struggled guarding the dribble. Really struggled guarding the dribble early on. We switch a lot and that’s the number one area where we missed Elijah. We felt it right away.” Porter Moser said in his postgame press conference."

Turnovers have been a back breaker for the Sooners

It’s been a continuing trend for Oklahoma, turning the ball over and allowing teams to capitalize off those turnovers. Iowa State was able to pressure Oklahoma and get fast-break opportunities late in the first half. The Sooners had nine turnovers in the first half and ended up with 16 for the game. Unfortunately, those turnovers enabled the Cyclones to maintain a double-digit advantage over Oklahoma for most of the game.

In most every loss this season, Oklahoma turnovers have reached double digits, and Sooner turnovers have been especially costly during OU’s current losing streak. On Saturday, Iowa State picked up the Sooners at half-court and caused issues for the OU guards. Without senior guard Elijah Harkless, due to a season ending injury, the Sooners were without their main ball-handler.

No Elijah Harkless; someone has to step up

Just a day before the Iowa State game, it was reported that Elijah Harkless will be out for the season. Harkless apparently has been dealing with an undisclosed injury for multiple games and was told to take a seat for the remainder of the season.

The Sooners have been struggling to score the basketball, and it doesn’t help that their main ball handler best defender has to watch from the sidelines. We expect to see more action out of the youngsters C.J. Noland, and Alston Mason, due to the Harkless absence. Noland and Mason each got a handful of minutes in the Iowa State loss and expect to see more in the final few games of the regular season.

Despite all the negatives and few positives that have occurred during the OU men’s season, the Sooners still have a shot of eanring an NCAA Tournament berth.

The Sooners have No. 11 Texas Tech Tuesday in Lubbock, which is the only Top-25 opponent left on Oklahoma’s schedule. The remainder of the 2022 season is still out there with gettable wins. for the Sooners. It just matters how they approach it.