OU Basketball: Shorthanded Oklahoma Ousted From Big 12 Tournament by TCU
Oklahoma’s stay in Kansas City was short and to the point.
The Sooners, depleted by a number of key injuries, simply couldn’t keep pace with the TCU Horned Frogs at the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday.
Porter Moser’s team lacked two starters in guard Javian McCollum and Rivaldo Soares, as well as bench big man John Hugley IV.
Without a number of steady hands in the lineup, the 9-seeded Sooners coughed the ball up 18 times as OU fell to 8-seeded TCU 77-70 at the T-Mobile Center.
After finishing 8-10 in Big 12 play in the regular season, Oklahoma now sits at 20-12 overall and will await its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday.
Final Box Score
OU Stats
Shorthanded, any extra energy the Sooners hoped to fall back on to level the playing field was quickly nullified.
OU’s stagnate offense struggle to generate looks early, allowing TCU to jump out to a 21-9 lead thanks to a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
Then Oklahoma’s defense settled in.
Milos Uzan intercepted Xaiver Cork’s pass and went coast-to-coast, laying the ball in to cut TCU’s lead down to 30-23 with seven minutes left until halftime, hoping to spark a strong close to the first half.
But the turnovers struck again.
The Sooners turned the ball over in the final six and a half seconds of the half, highlighted by backbreaking sequence as the buzzer sounded.
OU’s Otega Oweh attacked the bucket, initially drawing a goal tending call with two seconds left to cut the halftime deficit to nine points.
A review of the play overturned the play, adding a second and giving the ball to the Horned Frogs under their own basket.
Jalon Moore actually picked off the inbound pass for the Sooners, but as he went up to heave the ball before time ran out, he lost control of the ball.
TCU’s Micah Peavy picked up the ball and tossed it toward the other bucket, rolling the ball around the rim and in to put the Horned Frogs up by 14 points at the break — their largest lead of the first half.
Oklahoma couldn’t overcome the deficit, but a strong run late made the final minutes interesting.
Uzan pushed an OU run to 12-4 with a finished at the rim through contact to pull the Sooners within 10, and then he answered a pair of TCU free throws with a step-back triple to cut the Horned Frogs' lead to 75-66 with two minutes left.
Another stop added to Oklahoma’s defensive stretch that held TCU without a field goal for over five minutes, and Oweh cut the deficit again with another bucket, but the Horned Frogs were able to knock down enough field goals to dribble out the clock.
OU’s inability to stay in the game wasn’t due to a lack of creativity from Moser with his lineups.
He threw seldom used center Yaya Kieta into the fray late in the first half as well as freshman Kaden Cooper, who played just 10 total minutes during conference games in the regular season.
Cooper hit a single 3-pointer, adding four rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
No matter who was on the floor, Oklahoma couldn’t hold onto the basketball.
Moore and Oweh ended as OU’s joint leading scorers with 16 points apiece, and Uzan finished with 15 points.
Le’Tre Darthard also added 12 points to the tally, hitting 3-of-8 attempts from 3-point range.
The Sooners now wait for Selection Sunday.
ESPN projected OU as a 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday morning, but Oklahoma will find out officially when the selection show begins on Sunday at 5 p.m. on CBS.
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