The frustration and anguish showed all over his strained face as Oklahoma basketball coach Porter Moser sat down to address reporters after the Sooners' 77-73 loss to Texas before a packed house at Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday night.
It was a tale of two halves for the Sooners against their longtime archrival. Texas (12-5, 1-3) led all but 15 seconds of the first half. As has happened far too often this season, and especially since the Sooners began SEC play, OU struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the opening 20 minutes,
Texas led by 10 points at the midway point in the first half and by halftime had built a 16-point advantage, 43-27. Just how bad were the Sooners offensively in the first half? OU shot 38% (11 of 29), was just 4-for-8 at the free-throw line, 1-for-8 on 3-point attempts, and here's the killer: just 8-for-18 in first-half layups.
Oklahoma was down 51-28 in the opening minutes of the second half. Game over, right? Well, in practical terms, yes. Except that's when someone flipped the switch, and in some miraculous manner, the Sooners came to life.
Over a 10-minute stretch, the Sooners outscored the Longhorns 25-5, and with nearly eight minutes to go, the Texas lead was down to 56-53.
In the end, however, the deep hole that the Sooners dug for themselves in the first 25 minutes of the game proved too much to overcome. Behind the sizzling second-half shooting of Jalon Moore, OU managed to claw its way all the way back to within two, 75-73, with 15 seconds remaining in the game. Texas was able to finish things off from there.
"That first 25 minutes was unacceptable toughness and effort," Moser said to reporters in the postgame interview session. "There's no excuse, and it starts with me... The last 15 minutes, I was so proud of how hard they worked and competed."
Oklahoma has now lost eight straight games to Texas, and Moser is 0-7 versus the Sooners' chief rival.
After beginning the season 13-0, Oklahoma now finds itself mired at the bottom of the SEC standings, but with company in Arkansas and South Carolina, all still looking for their first conference win after four games. Something will have to give when the Sooners host 10-7 South Carolina at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.
Here are three more takeaways from Wednesday night's Red River showdown:
1. Jalon Moore leads ferocious Sooner second-half rally
Senior forward Jalon Moore put the Sooners on his back in the second half, scoring 26 of his career-high 29 points in leading a furious second-half rally. Moore made all eight of his field-goal attempts in the second half, including three of three from 3-point range.
2. Turnovers continue to plague Sooners in SEC play
For the second time in the past three games, Oklahoma committed 18 turnovers, including three critical turnovers in the final two minutes that enabled Texas to stretch a three-point lead to seven.
"It's hard in this league... the margin of error... if you're taking, I don't know, how many less shots than your opponent," Moser said after the game.
3. Eight missed free throws may have decided the game
The Sooners entered the game with Texas as the best free throw-shooting team in the SEC, and sixth-best in the nation, shooting 81% as a team. Oklahoma was 18 of 26 from the foul line against Texas. That's 69%. Jeremiah Fears and Jalon Moore, the two best foul shooters on the team, both above 82%, were a combined 4-for-8 on Wednesday night.