Bijan Cortes Arrives to Lift Oklahoma Over No. 11 Iowa State
NORMAN — Down five with about 10 minuets left in the game, Oklahoma needed a spark.
Enter Bijan Cortes.
The true freshman point guard, getting just his third taste of Big 12 action, burst onto the scene inside a lively Lloyd Noble Center, powering the Sooners past the No. 11-ranked Iowa State Cyclones 79-66 on Saturday evening.
The win prevented back-to-back ranked losses, pushing OU to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play. Iowa State fell to 13-2 (1-2).
After Cortes entered the game, Moser said he just did an excellent job of executing the game plan, which got the offense moving once again.
“What he did was he got the ball moving side to side,” Moser said after the game in a Zoom press conference. “He got it out of their trap. He got it moving. He went downhill and didn’t over-penetrate. He drew a crowd and kicked it.
“He drew a crowd and hit a cutter. He’s got such vision and that’s what we weren’t doing. We were hitting, getting out of it and taking a bad shot.”
Moser has been searching for bench depth all year long, and he found it on Saturday afternoon.
Stepping in for starting point guard Jordan Goldwire, Cortes propelled OU on a 13-4 run, picking apart a stout Iowa State defense to give OU their first lead of the second half with 6:40 left in the game.
Even in the chaos of OU’s lighting fast run, Cortes said he was able to take a moment and soak in the atmosphere inside the Lloyd Noble Center.
“I was just more confident in the second half,” Cortes said after the game. “… Just going into the second half, knowing I needed to be patient and under control.
“… I just had to relax and take in the moment and do what I do and go out there and perform my best.”
Once Cortes and the Sooners wrestled back the lead, they never gave it back.
Bijan Cortes
Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman-USA Today Network
With the defense drawn to Cortes, space opened up for Umoja Gibson to get his shot going. The microwave scorer added eight of his 20 points over the final five minutes, sealing the third win over a ranked opponent this season for Moser’s Sooners.
The late scoring explosion was exactly what Oklahoma needed after weathering an exceptional scoring display from the Cyclones.
Despite the OU defense leaving little breathing room all afternoon, Iowa State shot 56 percent from the field, including Izaiah Brockington’s 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
Sooner forward Jacob Groves said after the game that the team never gave up hope, even in the face of an impressive shooting display from the Cyclones.
“There's no question that they made some tough shots,” said Groves, “especially down the stretch and in the first half too that led up to their lead. But Coach (Moser) always just preaches that we want them to take tough, contest twos.
“We did our best to just kind of stick with it. It's really hard for a team to shoot that well for 40 minutes, so they eventually kind of let up and started missing a couple of shots and we were able to capitalize.”
Capitalizing is exactly what OU did, as the Oklahoma defense showed up when it mattered most.
As Cortes led the Sooner run late, OU held the Cyclones scoreless for five minutes, allowing OU to go on a 19-2 run.
Oklahoma’s efficient scoring continued, however, out-dueling the Cyclones.
Led by Gibson, the Sooners made 62 percent of their shots from the floor, knocking down 7-of-12 attempts from deep.
Just like in Waco, Oklahoma never panicked, continuing to work for good shots even when the game appeared to be slipping away early in the second half.
“When you get down like that, you want to keep chipping away,” Moser said. “We said next four minutes, let’s win these next four minutes.
“They were playing so hard. And then we were getting good stops. I thought Elijah Harkless played so hard. I thought Tanner Groves played so hard. I thought Jacob Groves came in and he’s such a big target and such a great cutter, Bijan found him a number of times. I thought he gave us a good lift off the bench.”
The Sooner bench ended up accounting for 17 points, with Jacob Groves adding nine points and C.J. Noland scoring four.
Behind Gibson, Elijah Harkless and Tanner Groves also finished scoring in double figures.
Harkless was second on the team with 15 points, adding four rebounds and an assist.
Groves finished with 14 points, battling for six boards of his own.
Cortes ended up with four points on 2-of-2 shooting, dishing out five assists while coming down with three rebounds of his own. All told, OU was plus-20 on the scoreboard when Cortes was on the floor, a game high.
Oklahoma will hope to ride the wave of momentum into their next contest, as they’ll hit the road to face the No. 14 Texas Longhorns on Tuesday night. Tip-off between the Sooners and the Longhorns is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network.
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