Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from Sooners' 80-71 loss at TCU

Despite its 13-1 record and No. 9 national ranking, the Oklahoma basketball men got a bitter taste on Wednesday night of what every game in the loaded Big 12 is going to be like this season, especially when on the road,

The Sooners (13-2, 1-1) suffered their second loss of the season, falling 80-71 at TCU. The two teams traded baskets for much of the first half. Oklahoma took a 32-29 lead on a three-pointer by Otega Oweh with just under three minutes to go in the first half, but TCU responded with an 11-2 run to closing out the opening 20 minutes up 40-34.

Oklahoma showed some of the resilience it has displayed all season with Javian McCollum sinking back-to-back threes coming right out of the locker room after halftime. In a matter of 30 seconds the game was all knotted at 40. But the Horned Frogs showed some of the same resilience countering with a 7-0 run of their own to go up 47-40.

The Sooners never got closer than five points the rest of the way. In fact, TCU stretched its lead to 17 points with two and a half minutes remaining. OU still had some fight in it, storming back with a pair of three-pointers by McCollum and one by Milos Uzan to cut into the Horned Frog advantage at 78-70. With just 51 seconds left in the game, that would be the final rally of the night for the Sooners.

McCollum led the Sooners with 17 points, including five three-pointers, Uzan had 13, John Hugely IV 14 and Jalon Moore contributed 10. Sam Godwin, who was in foul trouble early, had seven points, all coming in the first three minutes of the game.

TCU, one of the oldest teams in Division I basketball in terms of player age and tenure, were led by redshirt senior Emanuel Miller with 27 points. Avery Anderson II, a transfer from Oklahoma State, had 15 and Jameer Nelson added 13.

Three takeaways from the Sooners' loss at TCU

• Oklahoma outshot (45 to 44 percent) and outrebounded (38 to 35, each with nine offense boards), but 14 total turnovers (12 in the first half alone) led to an insufferable 25 TCU points. Also, the Sooners were in foul trouble early and sent the Horned Frogs to the free-throw line 22 times for 17 additional points.

• The Sooners were just 7 of 25 from three-point range (28.0 percent), with Javian McCollum a career-high five of the seven on the way to a 17-point night. Oklahoma is not the greatest three-point shooting team, but its 28 percent shooting from deep on Wednesday night was its second worst in 15 games this season.

• The OU men aren't going to be able to dwell very long on this loss because an even tougher challenge is coming up on Saturday when the Sooners go up against No. 3 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, where Oklahoma has not won a game since 1993. To make matters worse, the Jayhawks are coming off a giant upset loss on the road at UCF, so you know they will be coming into the OU game with an extra bounce in their step.