The No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners were back on the road Tuesday night in another place they hadn’t won in a while when they went to Manhattan to take on Kansas State.
Similar to the Iowa State game in Ames on Saturday, the Sooners were given all they wanted from an opponent who had not had a great season – but this time they didn’t come out on the right side of the scoreboard.
It looked for all the world that Oklahoma was going to absorb the Wildcats best shot and escape the Little Apple after they took a six-point lead with just under four minutes to go. But alas, Mike McGuirl got hot and Kansas State finished the game on a 15-4 run to pull off the road stunner.
The loss drops the Sooners to 14-6 on the season and gives them what has to be considered easily their worst loss of the season. Here are three immediate takeaways from the game:
This is a bad loss, obviously
This is a pretty bad loss for Oklahoma both in terms of the opponent and also the way it unfolded. This game was not as much of an easy win as it was likely viewed by many given Kansas State’s record, as they are still a tough team playing with confidence off of a win and were on their home floor.
But, the Sooners did beat them by 26 points the first time and held a 6-point lead late in this one. This is a game they should have had.
Oklahoma has done a terrific job of taking advantage of the bottom of the conference this season, but they didn’t take care of their business this time.
Teams lose to teams they are better than all the time in all sports, but especially in college basketball. It happens. This team has done a fantastic job avoiding this kind of thing all season long.
There isn’t any evidence to think this isn’t simply an aberration, but how they respond on Saturday for Bedlam will be highly interesting.
