The University of Oklahoma ended their regular-season on a high note against Texas Christian University with a 75-67 win in Fort Worth. Although this game wasn’t a perfect showing for the Sooners, a win solidifies a 3-seed in the conference tournament and with a West Virginia loss versus Baylor, OU will earn a 2-seed in the conference tournament.
This afternoon, of course the (11-19) Horned Frogs came out with a different energy with this being their last game of a tough regular season with the halftime score being 31-30, barely in OU’s favor, along with forcing 10 Sooner turnovers early in the game. Ryan Spangler started this game off well shooting 3-of-3 from three point to lead the team. However, Oklahoma really did a better job getting the ball in the basket in the final 20 minutes of the game. Although TCU scored more points in the second half, OU did a better job defensively than they did in the first. A handful of turnovers in the second half resulted in at least 8 points for the frogs.
This was a pretty solid basketball game for Buddy Hield who hit 21 points off 7-of-12 shooting and 3-of-8 from three, which for him is an underwhelming percentage from three (37.5 percent). He also added six rebounds but cost the team 5 turnovers. Jordan Woodard had a solid game with 13 points off 4-of-9 shooting and 2-of-5 from three and had two assists with 3 turnovers though. These are the things that Lon Kruger‘s team has to improve on if they want to make a run in the Big 12 Tournament and better yet, the NCAA tournament. Spangler didn’t have the second half he was looking for, scoring just two points but did do a great job getting his teammates involved while scoring 11 total points and pulling down 5 rebounds. The fourth and final player in double-figures for OU was Isaiah Cousins who finished with 10 points, but only hit one basket from the field which was a three. He got his points from the free throw line, shooting 7-of-8 from there.
There are a lot of things this team has to improve on in order to make a big run in the NCAA Tournament but they are capable of it. Living and dying by the three-ball and Buddy Hield isn’t what they need to do though. Getting everyone involved is the key. Khadeem Lattin is too athletic not to be a huge factor in the game. It’s clear he isn’t an offensive minded player but with his rebounding ability, he should be able to get some second-chance points if he decides to go strong down low.
The Big 12 Tournament is March 9-12 in Kansas City, MO.
If Oklahoma stays at the 3-seed, they will have a tough matchup against the No. 6 seed, Iowa State Cyclones (21-9). The Sooners finish the regular season with a (24-6) record.
Good story. Sooners!!!!