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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Takes a Tumble in AP Poll After Winless Week

Despite staying ranked, the Sooners dropped 12 spots after losing two home conference games.
Ross Lovelace|
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Takes a Tumble in AP Poll After Winless Week
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Takes a Tumble in AP Poll After Winless Week

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Oklahoma Sooners

It was a disastrous week for Oklahoma basketball, as the team reeled in two electric crowds and came up empty at home both times. The rankings reflected it, as the Sooners (15-5, 3-4) dropped from No. 11 to No. 23 on Monday afternoon.

After starting the season 15-3 and knocking on the door of the top-10, Oklahoma is desperately looking to get back on track. Once ranked in the top-7, Porter Moser's group is now hanging on for dear life inside the AP Poll's Top 25.

The Sooners dropped conference games to unranked rival Texas by 15 and blew a late lead to Texas Tech. In front of a sellout crowd, OU was up by nine points with less than five minutes to play and let the game slip away. Oklahoma was favored in both contests and the losses could sting bad in the Big 12 picture later on in the season.

The good news for Oklahoma is that the next four games are certainly winnable. If the Sooners want to continue building a tournament bid and find a way back into the Big 12 picture, this next stretch is a must. OU has a pair of unranked road games against Kansas State and UCF followed by a homestand at the Lloyd Noble Center against No. 21 BYU and a struggling Oklahoma State team.

Oklahoma will need Javian McCollum to revive his non-conference play after a pair of subpar performances in the back-to-back losses. The star guard averaged 8.0 points on just 5-of-22 combined from the floor.

The season is far from over, and the Sooners can make the climb back up the rankings. Last season, OU won just 15 games total, and already matching the win total this early into conference play feels like a small win. But with eyes set on the tournament, Oklahoma will have to end the losing streak as soon as possible.

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Ross Lovelace
ROSS LOVELACE

Ross has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma Sooners since 2018. He's made guest appearances on various radio stations and the Sooners On SI podcast. Ross enjoys public speaking and has done so at multiple churches and high schools across the OKC metro area. In addition to writing, Ross has been the Play-by-Play announcer for Crossings’ basketball and football programs since 2020. In high school, Ross started with Thunder Digest, where he discovered his passion for writing. From there, he worked for the OU Daily as a women's basketball reporter and worked for Sooners On SI and Thunder On SI. Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a minor in Communication from the University of Oklahoma. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Ross played basketball and wrote for his own Thunder blog at Crossings High School in OKC. He enjoys reading, New York Jets football and a week at the beach. Ross and his wife live in New Orleans, where he is a Marketing and Volunteer Coordinator at the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee. His Twitter handle is @Rosslovelace.

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