OU Basketball: Oklahoma Falls to Oklahoma State in Big 12 Tournament Opener
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Oklahoma’s minuscule hopes of snatching the Big 12’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament were dashed before even getting traction on Wednesday.
The Sooners succumbed to the Oklahoma State Cowboys for the third time this season, crashing out of the conference tournament 57-49 at the T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City.
Needing to string together consecutive wins for the first time since beating Florida and Central Arkansas in December, OU (15-17 overall) instead bookended its disappointing season with the two-lowest scoring outputs of the year.
Leading scorers Grant Sherfield and Tanner Groves combined to shoot 6-of-28 from the floor, and the Sooners’ 49 total points slid just under the previous season low of 51 points set on opening night in Oklahoma’s loss to Sam Houston.
"Obviously disappointed with the results," OU coach Porter Moser said after the loss. "My expectations were way higher. I'm not disappointed with the effort, not disappointed with how these guys approached it. I thought their effort was really good. Just disappointed in the result, unable to make some shots."
Oklahoma State played without lockdown defender Avery Anderson who contained Sherfield in the regular season meetings between the teams.
But even Anderson's absence wasn't enough for Sherfield to find any kind of rhythm in Kansas City.
"I kind of know what I'm getting into now going into every game," Sherfield said. "They're a good defensive team. But at the end of the day, I didn't make shots. I mean, that's on me at the end of the day."
Out of the gate, Moser’s team looked to right the wrongs of the first two Bedlam defeats.
Despite Oklahoma State’s (18-14) overwhelming size advantage down low, OU tried to attack the paint early.
The result?
Oklahoma went nearly nine minutes without a field goal in the first half, allowing the Cowboys to build an early 14-point advantage.
Led by Jacob Groves and Bijan Cortes, OU regrouped and connected on three shots from beyond the arc to engineer a 12-0 run to cut OSU’s lead to 22-20 with 3:59 left.
The starters returned to close the half for the Sooners, but it was the Cowboys who hit the final two shots of the first half to take a 26-20 lead into the break.
Neither Oklahoma or Oklahoma State set the world on fire offensively to start the second half, but a desperation heave helped the Cowboys rebuild a lead.
With the shot clock about to expire, John-Michael Wright hit a 3-pointer from the Phillips 66 logo well beyond the arc to put OSU back up eight points with 9:54 remaining.
Groves picked up an old-fashioned 3-point play on the other end, but the Cowboy lead was built back up to 10 points after a Moussa Cisse dunk, a Wright layup and a Cisse free throw.
Oklahoma cut the lead back down to six points with 5:52 left, but a 9-0 Oklahoma State run iced the contest.
The Sooners ended the game shooting 25 percent from the field, hitting just 6-of-23 3-pointers, and Oklahoma State out-rebounded OU 49-39.
Despite the rebounding discrepancy, Groves thought the loss boiled down to the inability to put the ball in the basket.
"I think it was 100 percent shots just didn't fall to be honest," he said. "Coach gave us a great game plan, I thought we stuck to it really well. They only scored 57 points. That's pretty good defense. It really just comes down to shots."
Groves was the only Oklahoma player to finish scoring in double-digits, adding 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Sherfield was OU’s second-leading scorer with eight points on 2-of-14 shooting, and freshman Milos Uzan addd seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
Moser’s team will likely miss the NIT to close out his disastrous second season as the head coach in Norman.
But if the tournament came calling, the Sooners would answer.
"I always like to compete," Moser said. "It's in my blood, and I want to compete. So, you know, I want — I don't want to stop coaching Tanner Groves, if it's the opportunity. So my mind hasn't been there yet, so I've got to process that. But I know just the way I'm wired, I just love to compete."
Even if the Sooners take the floor in the NIT, Moser will have to rapidly improve the roster this offseason to compete in OU's final season in the Big 12.
"We need to be better," Moser said. "I think we need to improve our shooting. We need to improve our length and athleticism in this league. We need to get old and stay old. I think we're the only team that started two freshmen. So those are two guys that logged in a lot of minutes. We've got to keep developing those guys and get better development.
"But I think we've got to increase our length, athleticism, shooting to start with there. That will start this spring recruiting. I think we've got to continue to be better offensively."
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