Oklahoma came into Tuesday night with an NCAA Tournament cushion.
Coming off back-to-back top-25 wins over Texas Tech and on the road at West Virginia, the Sooners could have all but clinched a spot in the Big Dance. Oklahoma was in what was an ugly basketball game from start to finish.
The Sooners and Longhorns went back-and-forth for the entire second half. Oklahoma had a two-point lead with two free throws and six seconds left. Kristian Doolittle missed both, and Texas would go on to bank in a prayer from beyond the 3-point line to lose 52-51.
Here are three reasons why the Sooners went down to their biggest rival on Tuesday night.
a shooting struggle
Oklahoma and Texas played one of the sloppier basketball games of the college basketball season.
For the Sooners, it was even worse than could have thought.
Oklahoma shot 28 percent from the floor and 2-of-20 from behind the arc. If it weren’t for 29 free throw attempts where the Sooners made 21, this game could have been much, much worse.
LOSING THE INTERIOR BATTLE
It is no secret that Oklahoma is one of the smaller teams in the Big 12 Conference. Starting Brady Manek and Kristian Doolittle on the front line can cause a mismatch.
That was the case on Tuesday night.
Texas outscored Oklahoma 24-14 in the paint and out-rebounded its Red River Rival 24-14 in the first half. The Sooners have
NO MANEK, MO’ PROBLEMS
A steadying force for Oklahoma this year has been one of the state’s own.
Brady Manek has been red hot for majority of the 2019-20 season. His 3-pointers helped bury West Virginia in a major upset on the road on Saturday.
Tuesday night was a different story. Manek struggled from the tip-off, scoring only 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting. Oklahoma tends to struggle when one of he or Kristian Doolittle are off.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]