Nearly everything went the way you’d want it to for the Oklahoma Sooners on Tuesday night against Texas Tech. They won the turnover battle. Though they were outrebounded, they weren’t giving up a lot of offensive rebounds to the Red Raiders.
They played well enough to win again, but fell short. It’s become a common theme for the 2022-2023 Oklahoma Sooners. But on a night when they put forth a pretty good defensive effort to force 16 Texas Tech turnovers, Oklahoma struggled to put the ball in the basket.
As a team, they shot 35.6% from the field and just 27.3% from three. That’s not gonna win you a lot of games in the stacked Big 12.
With 2:19 to play in the game, Jalen Hill’s layup made it a four-point game at 66-62. In the final minutes, their defense failed them, and they couldn’t buy a bucket, getting outscored 8-1 to close the game.
The Oklahoma Sooners are likely to miss out on the NCAA tournament again for the second year in a row. While the season hasn’t gone as Porter Moser would have liked, there are a few positive takeaways from this season. Namely, [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag].
Uzan has become an integral part of the Oklahoma Sooners offense. He’s played the point to help offset some of the load that Grant Sherfield was carrying, and his shooting stroke has been a welcomed addition.
On Tuesday night, he was 3 of 7 from the field, and 2 of 4 from three for 10 points. He also added two rebounds, an assist, and two steals. The freshman guard has done a nice job integrating into the offense but could stand to be more aggressive down the stretch. He’s scored in double-figures in each of the last three games and in five of Oklahoma’s last seven.
While it’s unlikely that Oklahoma makes the NCAA tournament, they can do a lot of good things over the final three games of the season. They’ll face three top 25 teams and then take their shot at in the Big 12 tournament. And in a tournament format, all it takes is for a team to get hot to make a surprising run to a title.
Why not Oklahoma?