The sound was deafening.
Top Daug made his highly anticipated return to Oklahoma’s sidelines in front of 10,486 fans on Tuesday night. The crowd was rowdy well before the Sooners (11-5, 2-2) and Jayhawks (13-3, 3-1) took the floor.
Lon Kruger’s squad hung tough for the majority of the game before falling away late and losing 66-52.
Oklahoma was ice cold early on, especially leading-scorer Kristian Doolittle who began the game 3-of-11 from the floor in the first half. The Sooners as a whole were only 9-of-32 from the floor and 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.
All night, Oklahoma could not get any 50/50 balls to fall their way with countless baskets rimming out, finishing the game shooting 31 percent from the floor and 8-of-29 (28 percent) from deep.
It became apparent early in the game that Doolittle was the one tasked with limiting mammoth Kansas center Udoka Azubuike. Lon Kruger and Bill Self played a chess match like a couple of prizefighters feeling each other out in the early rounds of a bout. When Self would take Azubukie off, Kruger would match. When Doolittle came in after a breather, Azubuike was never far behind him.
The duo duked it out for the majority of the first half but foul trouble for Doolittle forced Brady Manek and Kur Kuath onto Azubuike for the remainder of the game.
Manek had a tough game from start to finish, but to Azubuike’s credit, he kept it well within the letter of the law. Kuath did a decent job in the matchup, but the few rarely went head to head.
Despite shooting poorly in the first half, Oklahoma trailed 28-27 at the half while holding the Jayhawks to 39% shooting. The Sooners also held their own on the glass in the opening 20 minutes, trailing 26-22 in total rebounds.
One solid constant against Kansas was De’Vion Harmon. The true freshman was a bright spot in his first time back in the starting lineup since the Creighton game on Dec. 17.
Early on, Harmon was found by Reaves on a fast break for an easy layup, bringing the Lloyd Noble Center to their feet. The true freshman did not let his first matchup against the Jayhawks phase him as he finished with 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in crucial spots to keep the Sooners in striking range.
Oklahoma hits the hardwood on Saturday as they play host to TCU at 1p.m. CT. The game can be found on ESPN Big 12+.
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