The Oklahoma Sooners bounced back with a must-win over the No. 19 BYU Cougars on Tuesday. The Sooners’ offense woke up in the 82-66 win, especially in the second half when they scored 48 points.
Even still, the story of the game was the defense. BYU is one of the best scoring teams in the country, averaging 83.6 points per game, which ranks No. 19. A big reason for that is their three-point shooting. They average 12 makes a game on 33 attempts, ranking No. 2 in the country. Their 36.2% from three ranks in the top 65 in the country as well.
But Oklahoma was able to shut that down. The Cougars went 8 of 26 (30.8%) in the game. The eight makes were the third lowest of the season for the Cougars, and the 30.8% was one of their lowest shooting performances as well. It was just the fourth time this season, BYU was held under 70 points in a game.
Porter Moser spoke after the game about why their defense was so effective. “I think our guys had such a respect for them,” Moser said. “I think we were trying to get underneath them. We got lost a couple of times in transition, one to start the second half, one in the corner by our bench, but they’re so hard to guard. They run excellent stuff. They space you. They’ve got an elite point guard. They’ve got a power-center that can score. But I thought our guys communicated on our switches really well. I thought they did a great job.”
That communication had been lacking recently, especially in the second half of games. But this once again shows just how good Oklahoma can be defensively when they are locked in and playing as one unit.
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