Oklahoma ends losing streak, advances in Big 12 Tournament

In their first postseason contest, familiar faces turned up for the No. 25 Oklahoma Sooners to help end their four game losing streak.

Topping the Iowa State Cyclones 79-73, OU punched its ticket into Thursday’s second round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

"Good win. When you drop a few in a row that go right down to the wire, you got to get that feeling of winning again," head coach Lon Kruger said after the game. "Happy for the guys, did a good job to get in the win column."

To get back to their winning ways, the Sooners returned to the formula which saw them win seven out of of eight and beat three straight top-15 teams earlier this season — great defensive effort and contributions from their versatile bench unit.

While Austin Reaves, Brady Manek and De’Vion Harmon led the way in the first half, Kruger also got key contributions from Alondes Williams, Jalen Hill, Elijah Harkless and Kur Kuath.

"It's huge, you need everybody to win, especially down the stretch," Harmon said.

"Everybody came in and contributed in a big way. Getting stops, knocking down and getting buckets, getting key buckets in a tight stretch... It's big. And we're going to need each and every one, we're gonna need everybody tomorrow."

In total, all eight Sooners who saw the floor scored, seven of which drained multiple shots.

Kruger said he's confident in any number of lineup combinations for Oklahoma as the tournament continues.

"There'll be some different combinations," he said. "(We're) pretty comfortable with any of them."

The platooning also paid dividends on the other end of the floor. The defense was closer to the level OU exhibited in January, forcing 11 turnovers and cashing them in for eight points on the offensive end.

Getting contributions up and down the bench, the Sooners were fresh in the second half and able to exert control on the game. Oklahoma really iced the game with an 11-0 run stretching 3:48, which saw the Sooners open up a 19-point lead with a little over 12 minutes left in the game.

Iowa State's season wouldn't end without one last fight, as they cut the deficit down to four points with just 13.7 seconds in the game. But the Sooners knocked down their free throws to hang on for the win.

The senior, Reaves, was key in steadying the ship for Oklahoma as Iowa State was clawing back into the game, hitting a triple and a mid-range jumper on back-to-back possessions to maintain the lead down the stretch.

"Just huge plays at a time where we needed to kind of stem their run," Kruger said. "He's done that for us on many occasions, and certainly he was great at that time tonight."

Reaves finished with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, adding five rebounds and three assists. Harmon and Manek followed him with 18 points and nine points respectively.

Oklahoma got a truly special contribution from Williams, who was playing with a heavy heart.

Reported by Holly Rowe on the ESPN broadcast, Williams only joined up with the Sooners on Wednesday, as had to step away from the team to attend his grandmother’s funeral on Tuesday.

“Thoughts and prayers with Alondes and his family,” Kruger said. “Anytime a young man has to go through that, it’s tough. It’s tough, and credit to him that he wanted to get back and he wanted to play.

"He said that’s what his grandmother would want, so yeah it was good to get him in there and he’ll bounce back there a little bit and be even more comfortable tomorrow.”

Building on his great outing against the Texas Longhorns in the regular season finale, Williams contributed five points and three rebounds in nine minuets of action.

Harkless also stuffed the stat sheet for the Sooners, finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals.

"That's crazy man," Harmon said. "All I can say about that is that's big time.

"We feed off of him on the defensive end, and when he's doing that, we're a very hard team to beat."

Up next for Oklahoma, they’ll face the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks at approximately 6:30 p.m. from the T-Mobile Center on Thursday night.