Oklahoma Showed Fight in Road Loss to No. 1 Baylor
Porter Moser’s Sooners are ahead of schedule.
Oklahoma ultimately fell on Tuesday night to the No. 1-ranked Baylor Bears 84-74, but the transfer-laden OU roster proved they belonged on the floor with the nation’s best inside the Ferrell Center.
Baylor continued their perfect start to the season, moving to 14-0 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 play, while the Sooners fell to 11-3 (1-1).
Falling behind by as many as 15 points at the start of the second half, the Sooners never folded and were able to battle all the way back, making Baylor sweat out another late victory.
Though the Bears appeared to be comfortably in front down the stretch, a quick 4-0 run with a minute and a half left in the game cut the lead down to five points, and OU was able to force Baylor into a potentially costly turnover with 50.1 seconds left on the clock.
Moser called a timeout, hoping to draw up a nice offensive play, and the Sooners got the look they wanted.
Umoja Gibson was camped out in the corner and the ball found him, but Baylor was able to force a miss with a late closeout that partially blocked Gibson’s shot to prevent the sharpshooter from cutting the deficit to two points.
Matthew Mayer blocks Umoja Gibson's 3-pointer in the final minute of the game on Tuesday night
Chris Jones / USA TODAY Sports
From there, the Bears iced the game at the free throw line, closing out a hard-fought victory over the plucky underdog Sooners.
“Very tough to swallow. Very tough one,” Moser said in a Zoom press conference after the game. “… I thought our guys fought. We played better defense in the second half than we did in the first. I thought we did some good things offensively. I think we put ourselves in a position to be in there in the last couple minutes of the game.
“They made a phenomenal play on that blocked shot of Mo coming out of that timeout. Gotta give them credit for that.”
With leading scorer Tanner Groves back into the lineup after a COVID-related absence, Moser’s offense was humming, knocking down 56 percent of their field goals for the night.
Tanner Groves
Chris Jones / USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately for OU, while the Sooners had plenty of scoring punch, they also failed to compete on the boards.
Coming into the contest, Moser warned of Baylor’s rebounding prowess, and Scott Drew’s team proved Moser right on Tuesday evening.
Baylor outrebounded OU 34-16, cashing in 12 offensive boards for 19 second chance points compared to zero for OU
“They do a really good job,” Moser said. “If they have position, they’re gonna grab it. If you block them out, they’re gonna tip it back. It’s a lethal combination with the way they’re going. You have to grab it, go in with two hands.”
Forward Jalen Hill said he didn’t think the issue was getting overwhelmed by size, as the Sooners have outrebounded bigger teams at times this year, but an overall lack of effort to help tip the scales on the boards.
“I think we've outrebounded teams like Arkansas and Florida in the past, and they were bigger than us,” Hill said after the game. “It's just our mind and our grit. We just have to get tougher at the end of the day."
While Oklahoma struggled to hang with Baylor in the rebounding battle, bench contributions from Ethan Chargois, Bijan Cortes and Jacob Groves helped keep the Sooners afloat.
Bijan Cortes
Chris Jones / USA TODAY Sports
Chargois gave Moser 13 nice minutes, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Jacob Groves battled defensively despite only adding two points to the cause on offense.
Cortes also helped hold things together for OU when veteran guard Jordan Goldwire got into foul trouble. Cortes ran the offense for 15 minutes, scoring six points while dishing out three assists.
“I thought Ethan was really good,” Moser said. “I thought Bijan did some really nice things. I think those two off the bench gave us a lift. Jacob did some nice things, too.
“… Ethan has given us quality minutes all year. I really like the way he’s playing. He’s staying positive. I thought the combination between him and Tanner – scored 23 points from that spot. We got some great production out of there.”
In the end, Groves, Gibson and Hill ended up leading the Sooners in points, scoring 13, 12 and 12 respectively, as the trio combined to shoot 10-of-25 for the night.
OU won’t have much time to digest the loss, as the Sooners have another highly ranked opponent on deck in No. 11 Iowa State on Saturday night inside the Lloyd Noble Center
The Cyclones’ only defeat this season came at the hands of Baylor.
Tipoff between the Sooners and the Cyclones is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday night, and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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