OU Basketball: Oklahoma Takes Down No. 22 TCU to Close Out Regular Season
NORMAN – Ending a tough regular season on a high note.
In a game largely for pride and to try and build some momentum before next week’s Big 12 Tournament, Oklahoma hosted No. 22 TCU on Saturday afternoon in the home finale at the Lloyd Noble Center.
In the final regular-season game of the 2022-2023 season, the Sooners (15-16 overall, 5-13 Big 12) turned in one of their stronger efforts of the entire campaign, handling the Horned Frogs (20-11, 9-9) to the tune of a 74-60 victory.
“We did a lot of good things right from the jump," head coach Porter Moser said postgame. "Our transition defense slowed them down. But I thought our belief was high. That’s why (you just) keep believing. I told you all — until you tell me there’s no path, we’ve gotta keep fighting.”
OU got the party started very quickly on Saturday, jumping out to a 17-2 advantage in just under the first six minutes, started by a pair of jumpers from Grant Sherfield.
"I thought we came out and really established in the first five minutes some things on our behalf in terms of transition defense, all that," Moser said. "That start, I thought, really gave us some confidence."
While the offense cooled off a tad, Oklahoma continued to stifle TCU defensively, holding the Frogs to just 21 first-half points on 26 percent shooting from the field.
Led by 11 points from super senior Tanner Groves, the Sooners rode a 38-21 advantage into the locker room.
In the first 20 minutes, Oklahoma shot 58 percent from the field including an efficient 5-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc.
The Horned Frogs made a small push to open up the second half, trimming the OU advantage down to 12 points, before the Sooners extended it out back to 18 with a three-point play from Groves followed by a thunderous dunk from Jalen Hill.
TCU, however, would continue to battle back throughout the next several minutes of game action.
Falling behind by as much as 20 points, the Frogs whittled the lead back to 12 once more with 8:02 to play.
But, every time it seemed like TCU was about to seriously get back in it, Oklahoma responded.
Led by Sherfield and Groves on their Senior Day, the Sooners fended off every Frog rally to hold on for the relatively comfortable win.
In in his final game at the LNC, Groves finished the afternoon with a season-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, dominating the Horned Frogs all day.
“I thought Tanner Groves was willing it," Moser said. "He was willing us in the game. To see him that aggressive, oh man, I thought he was terrific."
Sherfield, meanwhile, contributed another 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting.
"He (Sherfield) did some really good things," Moser said. "He hit some really big shots. It was starting to get to 12 and he had that drive and layup, aggressive and got to the rim and got fouled. Hit the big 3 at the end of the shot clock. He, too, played really well tonight."
While any hope of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for Oklahoma has already gone by the wayside, the win in the home finale does serve as a nice positive note for the Sooners to take with them into the postseason.
Knowing they will need to win the event in order to take part in the NCAA Tournament, OU turns their attention to the Big 12 Tournament beginning on Wednesday night in Kansas City.
"Just one at a time," Moser said. "We know it. We have to win some. That’s part of it. I came from a league when I was at Loyola (Chicago) where we’d have an unbelievable year and had to win three in a row. I’ve faced this pressure. There were so many years at Loyola where we had to win three in a row. I know what that feels like. You just have to take one at a time."
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