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Oklahoma Collapses in First-Place Showdown With Texas

A win would have pushed the Sooners into sole possession of first place in the Big 12 standings, but Texas was too much defensively.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Collapses in First-Place Showdown With Texas
Oklahoma Collapses in First-Place Showdown With Texas

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Oklahoma Sooners

With everything on the line, Oklahoma couldn’t endure a lull.

That’s exactly what the No. 11-ranked Sooners got on Saturday in a virtual winner-take-all showdown with No. 19 Texas.

The Sooners and Longhorns came into the weekend tied atop the Big 12 Conference standings. With just two games to go, the winner would all but lock up at least a tie for first.

That honor went to Texas — emphatically, again, 67-45 this time, another 20-point loss to the Horns, who beat the Sooners 78-58 in Austin back on Jan. 25.

A raucous Lloyd Noble Center crowd didn’t give Oklahoma the spark it needed against a long, tough, smart and talented Texas squad, who led by as many as 20 in the final minutes.

It was the Sooners’ lowest scoring output of the season.

OU fell to 22-5 on the season and 12-4 in Big 12 play, while Texas improved to 22-7 and 13-3.

Incredibly, the loss dropped Oklahoma’s teams to 0-10 against the Longhorns in head-to-head matchups during the 2022-23 academic year.

The Sooners were led by Liz Scott, who scored 13 points and collected nine rebounds.

Oklahoma is college basketball’s second-best scoring offense at 82.6 points per game, but against Texas, four of OU’s five starters failed to score in double figures.

Texas, meanwhile, got 19 points from Shayl Gonzales, 14 from Rori Harmon, 12 from Deyona Gaston, 11 from Shay Holle and 10 from Taylor Jones.

OU trailed just 23-21 with 2 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter, but the Longhorns closed the first half with a 27-23 lead, then opened the second half on a 13-7 run that built the lead to 40-30.

As Texas pulled away to another comfortable Red River triumph, Oklahoma scored zero field goals over the final 3:06.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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