OU Basketball: Oklahoma Can't Keep up With No. 2 Florida, Loses Fifth Straight Game

A dreadful first half put the Sooners in a 22-point pit at halftime, and they were never able to recover against the No. 2 Gators.

Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Oklahoma’s losing streak continued on Tuesday.

The Sooners fell 85-63 to No. 2 Florida. The loss is OU’s fifth in a row after consecutive defeats against Auburn, Tennessee, Missouri and LSU.

Oklahoma (16-10, 3-10 SEC) remains in 14th in the SEC standings with the loss.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Shooting woes

The Sooners couldn’t find an offensive rhythm early, and that cost them.

The first half was particularly rough for OU, which shot 27% from the field. Oklahoma went 2-of-11 on 3-pointers in the first half as well, giving Florida a 46-24 lead at the break.

OU Basketball: Oklahoma Looks to Break Losing Streak vs. No. 2 Florida

Florida, on the other end, made nine 3-pointers in the first half and shot 44% from the field.

Oklahoma’s offense ran better in the second half, as the Sooners shot 52.2% from the field and made five 3-pointers. But it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Gators, who went 13-of-28 on field goals in the second half.

The Sooners finished the game with 13 turnovers to Florida’s six. The Gators scored 18 points off of OU’s miscues.

Florida also outscored Oklahoma 28-18 in the paint.

Fears steps up

For all of Oklahoma’s offensive woes against the Gators, Jeremiah Fears stepped up.

The freshman guard scored a team-high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He also logged five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Fears’ strong showing was his second in a row.

The freshman led OU in scoring in the Sooners’ 82-79 loss to LSU on Saturday. Before that, he had combined for just 26 points in the previous three games.

Fears’ 22-point game is his highest point total during conference play, surpassing his 21-point showing in the Sooners’ win against Vanderbilt. He entered Tuesday’s game averaging 15.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

Senior forward Jalon Moore was the only other Sooner in double figures, as he finished the game with 11 points.

Desperation time

The games are numbered for the Sooners.

Oklahoma has just five regular-season games remaining, and four of their final five opponents are ranked. The only exception is Texas, which beat OU 77-73 in Norman in January.

The Sooners entered the night ranked No. 52 in the NET rankings, used heavily by the NCAA Tournament selection committee to choose which teams make the tourney.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi projected the Sooners to be one of the last four teams in the tourney in his latest field, released Tuesday.

OU Softball: Oklahoma OF Hannah Coor is 'Not Too Far' From Returning to Action

Next for Oklahoma is a home test against No. 21 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs took down No. 7 Texas A&M 70-54 on Tuesday.

After that, OU will face No. 17 Kentucky, No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 15 Missouri before battling Texas in Austin to end the regular season.