Oklahoma Falls to TCU in Wild Overtime Game
Oklahoma’s offense struggled, but never quit.
Down for a majority of the second half, Porter Moser’s Sooners battled until the very end, extending the game on the last play of regulation against the TCU Horned Frogs in Ft. Worth.
Trailing the TCU Horned Frogs 50-48 with 3.1 seconds left in the game, OU appeared to have fallen short as Umoja Gibson’s corner 3 was blocked, giving Oklahoma just 1.4 seconds to stave off defeat.
But a pair of veterans stepped up to extend the game.
Senior guard Elijah Harkless appeared to have no options as he inbounded the ball under the basket, but he found forward Jalen Hill wide open under the bucket for a layup to send the game to overtime.
The luck ran out in overtime, however.
Harkless was unable to extend the game a second time at the end of overtime, and the Horned Frogs outscored OU 9-8 in the extra period to hold on for a 59-58 win.
Though Moser couldn’t stop the play with a timeout, the Sooners seemed to have enough time to work the ball for a good shot, but they were ultimately unable to move the ball and had to settle for Harkless’ contested look, a shot Moser said he didn’t want the team to settle for.
“It's an attack, you don't have timeouts, and a lot of times it's very effective because defenses are scrambling,” Moser said after the game in a Zoom press conference. “You want to move the ball, pass the ball.
“… You got to make the defense do something hard, and they didn't. When you dribble one into three and then just stop and pick it up, so no. I got to coach it better.”
With the loss, OU dropped to 12-5 overall and 2-3 in Big 12 play, and TCU fell to 12-2 (2-1).
The Sooners’ offensive struggles from their last outing against the Texas Longhorns spilled over into Saturday’s contest.
While OU shot 40 percent from the field, Moser’s team shot a dismal 23 percent from 3-point range.
For the second straight game, the Sooners couldn’t convert from deep, something Moser said the team will have to do a better job of managing as the season presses on.
“It can’t be a snowball where if I’m not getting a shot, then when it’s my turn, I’m just jacking it up,” Moser said. “We can have different guys different nights. We’ve had that. You can’t care about it. You can’t let it dictate the rest of your game.
“… You have to make good decisions. If you draw three, you have to be willing to kick it. We’ll continue to learn that. that’s a by-product of us coming together and trusting.”
The Sooners also turned the ball over 20 times against TCU, tied for a season high, compounding the shooting struggles.
TCU was able to cash in the OU mistakes for 22 points, which proved to be the difference in the end.
“I loved Bobby Knight's statement always, 'you know what the best motivator is on turnovers? The bench.' We don't have that luxury right now,” Moser said. “The decision making is something, as much as we show film, talk to you, you get in the heat of the thing we had almost five possessions in a row in transition where we got stops and the decision making in transition, it was just head-scratching.”
“We had a number of shots in and out… That didn't lose us the game. It's the possessions. It's the possessions on the bad shots, alright. And that's something that is something that really bothers me that we've got to get better at that we've discussed at length.”
Only three Oklahoma players finished scoring in double figures, as Jordan Goldwire and Hill led the way with 12 points, and Harkless added 11 points in a losing effort.
Gibson’s shooting struggles from deep continued, only knocking down 3-of-10 attempts from deep.
The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Sooners, as they’ll host the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks and the No. 1 Baylor Bears over their next two games.
Up first, the Sooners will host the Jayhawks on Tuesday night at 6 p.m, and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN.
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