Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from a Sooner giveaway to resurgent Texas Tech

At a time in the season when good teams are getting better, the men’s Oklahoma basketball team is revving its engine in neutral, occasionally slipping into reverse.

Oklahoma shot just 36 percent from the field, including a fatal 9 of 33 from three-point range, in a 74-63 home loss to Texas Tech on Tuesday night. This was a truly lackluster performance from a Sooner team that may have passed on its last opportunity to avoid its worst conference season in over half a century.

Texas Tech committed 13 turnovers in the first half and still managed to lead by two, 33-31, at halftime, largely because the Red Raiders shot 65 percent (13 0f 20) while the Sooners managed just 32 percent (10 of 31).

Although Oklahoma never led in the second half, the contest was relatively close throughout with the difference never greater than four or five points. This was another game that the Sooners could have won, but it is a game about making shots and rebounding the ball when you don’t. Texas Tech excelled in both areas, while OU was woefully deficient in both. That was the difference in the game.

Oklahoma trailed by just four points, 58-54, with 5:18 remaining in the game. Sooner fans have seen this movie far too many times this season. The ending sadly was no different this time around: Texas Tech outscored OU 16-9 over that span, aided by the Sooners misfiring on four of their last six field goal attempts. That allowed a four-point deficit to expand to an 11-point loss.

Tanner Groves had one of his better games for Oklahoma in a losing cause. The 6-foot, 9-inch forward scored 16 points on five-of-seven shooting, including two of three from deep.

The Red Raiders 16-12, 5-10) won for the fifth time in their last seven games after starting off the conference season losing eight consecutive games and moved two games clear of Oklahoma for last place in the Big 12. The struggling Sooners find themselves needing a three-game sweep of their final three regular-season games to avoid finishing in the Big 12 cellar for just the second time since 1968-69.

The problem is, OU’s final three games are all against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 and two are on the road, where the Sooners are just 1-6 in conference play. It’s just been a very disappointing season as far as the Oklahoma men are concerned.

Three big takeaways from another bothersome men’s OU basketball loss

• The Oklahoma men have lost nine of their last 10 conference games, and eight of those nine losses have been by double digits. The Sooners began the 2023 Big 12 schedule by losing three of their first four league games by a combined eight points.
• Oklahoma shot just 36 percent for the game (21 of 59). Thirty-three of the Sooner’ shots were from behind the three-point line, and they connected only nine times (27.3 percent).
• Texas Tech outrebounded OU 38-22, and 40 of the Red Raiders 74 points were close to the basket in the paint area.