Another cold start with poor shooting forced Oklahoma into a deep first-half hole it was never able to dig out of as defending national champion Florida had its way with the overmatched Sooners 96-79 on Tuesday night.
The Sooners (11-6) lost for the third straight game after opening SEC play earlier this month with a home win over Ole Miss. The humbling defeat to a good Florida team dropped OU's record to 1-3 in SEC play and one loss away from matching its disappointing 1-4 start to last season.
Oklahoma led for just 14 seconds in the entire game against Florida, taking an 8-6 lead on a four-point play by Xzayvier Brown 3 1/2 minutes into the game. Brown's 3-point bucket was just one of nine made field goals by the Sooners in the opening 20 minutes. OU shot just 29% on 9-of-31 shooting in the first half and trailed by 22 points, 46-24, at halftime.
Meanwhile, the Florida big three -- Thomas Hough, Alex Conden and Rueben Chinyelu -- all 6-foot-9 or taller and each of whom played in the Gators' national championship game win last season, had a party in the paint, outscoring the Sooners 30-8 in the opening half.
Oklahoma played much better in the second half, but by then the damage was long done. The Sooners shot 58.6% and 8-of-12 on 3-point shots, scoring 55 of their 79 points after halftime. Brown scored 16 of his game-high 24 points after intermission, with 6-foot-11 Russian center Kirill Elatontsev contributing a season-high 17 points in the second half on 4-of-4 from 3-point range.
The loss was Oklahoma's first at Lloyd Noble Center in nine games this season.
Head coach Porter Moser acknowledged in his postgame press conference that the Sooners had no answer for Florida's three big men, who continually battered, bruised and bullied OU down low with their strength, length and relentless energy.
The Sooner bench was a much better contributor vs. Florida than it had been against OU's three other SEC opponents. The need for deeper offensive production beyond the starters is something Moser has been troubled by this season. The Sooner reserves were good for 25 points against the Gators.
Looking ahead, there isn't much relief in sight as the Sooners try to get back on a winning track. The good news is that Oklahoma stays at home for its next game. The bad news is that No. 18 Alabama is the team next in line on Saturday.
3 telling takeaways from OU's embarrassing loss to Florida
The Sooner defense had no answer to Florida's bigs down low
Florida's length, strength, and overall energy and physicality down low in the paint was dramatically more than the Sooners were able to handle. The Gators have three talented veterans, who range in height from 6-foot-9 to 6-foot-11, and had their way with the Sooners down low, scoring 66 of Florida's 96 total points in the paint. The Gators also pulled down 17 offensive rebounds that contributed to 22 Florida points.
1st-half shooting woes doom OU vs. veteran, more talented Gators
Oklahoma shot just 29% (9-of-31) as a team in the first half against Florida. That resulted in a 46-24 halftime deficit. The Sooners never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way and once trailed by as many as 29 points in the second half despite shooting 58.6% over the final 20 minutes.
Loss signals disturbing pattern of Porter Moser's OU teams
This season's Oklahoma team is following a disturbing pattern in Porter Moser's history as head coach of the Sooners. With the loss to Florida, OU dropped to 1-3 in conference play, and there is a high likelihood that it will be 1-4 after the Sooners face 18th-ranked Alabama on Saturday. Moser is 27-49 against conference opponents in his five seasons at Oklahoma and just 9-30 against ranked conference opponents All of this has Oklahoma fans losing faith and favor fast in their head coach. And it may now be reaching the breaking point.
Moser's five Oklahoma teams have won 10 or more nonconference games in four of his five seasons, including a perfect 13-0 record last season, but when the calendar flips to January and conference play begins in earnest, the losses begin to pile up. Oklahoma's conference record the past four seasons has been 7-11, 5-13, 8-10 and 6-12. And this season, unfortunately, is trending that same way.