The Oklahoma men's basketball team lost its eighth consecutive game on Saturday and its fourth straight home SEC game. It's been a common theme for the Sooners since the calendar turned to January, and on Saturday afternoon in the comforts of Lloyd Noble Center, Texas became the latest team to seize victory away from Oklahoma in the closing minutes of the game.
Down by 14 points midway through the first half, Texas fought back to within three points, 33-30, at halftime and eventually took control of the game in the second half to win by double digits, 79-69. It was the fourth time in the last five games that OU held the halftime lead, but ended up losing the game. Even more hurtful for Sooner fans, it was the seventh straight time OU's hated Red River rival came to Norman and left with the victory.
Sooners squander another early lead in loss to Texas in Red River Rivalry
Oklahoma started out as hot as it's been all season, hitting six of its first eight shots, and opened up a 17-4 lead, and later 23-9 at the midway point of the first half. Meanwhile, Texas opened up the game missing 11 of its first 14 field-goal attempts.
That was as good as it would get for the Sooners. In the meantime, the visiting Longhorns slowly got into their shooting rhythm, while OU's hot hand regressed to the mean. After starting out 3-of-14 from the field, Texas went 27-of-35 the rest of the way for a 77% clip and an even better finishing act than Oklahoma's explosive start.
The Longhorns took their first lead in the game, 41-40, at the 15:49 mark of the second half. But the Sooners responded and were in front 56-50 at the under 12-minute TV timeout. Five minutes later, OU held its last lead, 61-60. Over the final six minutes of the contest, Texas outscored Oklahoma 18-9 to close the door and finish out with the victory. Same old song.
The Sooners have established a pattern of becoming their own worst enemy when things aren't going right on the offensive end. Too often this season, and again against Texas on Saturday, this situation has led to breakdowns defensively, creating instant offense for the opponent. That has just added to Oklahoma's recent difficulties in obtaining wins.
It's one thing to lose eight consecutive games, but head coach Porter Moser's 1-8 record against the Sooners' chief rival is probably the final nail that will seal his fate.
This OU team isn't getting beat as much as it's getting in its own way and finding ways to lose games. That's become an albatross the Sooners haven't been able to shake, and the opponents are attacking and taking full advantage of it.
Oklahoma started out the season as an outstanding second-half team, outscoring its opponents in the second half in 11 of the Sooners' first 13 games and producing a 10-3 record heading into SEC play. Nine games into the SEC schedule, however, Oklahoma has outscored its opponents in the second half just twice during that span, while holding a lead in the second half in seven of those games.
For whatever reason, OU has not been able to close out games. With only one notable exception, a 96-79 loss to Florida in mid-January, the Sooners have been in a position in the second half to win in seven of their eight losses, only to run out of steam or luck, or both, in clutch time over the final 3-5 minutes.
As a prime example, in three of Oklahoma's four game prior to Saturday's showdown against Texas, the Sooners held the lead as late as the final two minutes, but couldn't keep their foot down through the final buzzer. OU led No. 18 Alabama 79-77 with under two minutes left, but ended up losing 83-81. The Sooners were up 79-77 over Arkansas with 1:27 to go, but were on the short end of a 6-0 run by the visitors and lost 83-79.
And then there was the classic finish in the Missouri game. The Sooners led 81-78 with five seconds remaining in regulation, only to see the Tigers sink a rainbow three-pointer from logo range to send the game into overtime. Then lightning struck a second time in OT with Mizzou nailing a desperation three-point shot as the buzzer sounded to erase a two-point deficit and claim a one-point, 88-87, victory. That was clearly the toughest to endure of all the eight straight losses.
Whether it's because of fatigue, with the Sooners generally going with an eight-man rotation in most of the conference games in January and not getting much production off the bench, or just not having what it takes to finish out what it started, it's become an unsustainable situation that has landed Oklahoma alone at the bottom of the SEC standings and without good prospects of finding its way to higher ground anytime soon.
The Sooners' finishing schedule includes home rematches with two teams they have already lost to, and five against team that are currently, or at some time this season, were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.
Oklahoma has the talent to pick off a few more games before the season comes to a merciful end and certainly to end its month-long losing skid, but if the Sooners don't quickly turn the page and find a way to finish out close games with a W, they will be doomed to end the men's basketball season in last place in their conference for just the fifth time since 1931 and early years of the Big Six Conference.