Best photos from the Oklahoma Sooners 75-53 win over Kansas City

Relive Oklahoma’s 75-53 win over Kansas City in fantastic still images.

It didn’t go great for the Sooners, who were locked in a battle against the Kansas City Roos on Tuesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Roos came to play, keeping the game close through the first 20 minutes, taking the Sooners into halftime tied at 27 apiece.

And then Grant Sherfield happened.

The Sooners’ starting point guard went off in the second half, scoring 22 of his 24 points on the night to help Oklahoma erupt for a 48-point second half. Sherfield was 6 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from three-point range.

The Sooners had three other players score in double figures on a night where they shot 57.8% from the field and 41.2% from three.

It was a key second half for Oklahoma, who the tournament selection committee would have looked down upon had the Sooners struggled to beat the Roos. Taking a 27-all game at halftime and turning it into a 22-point win looks a whole lot different come selection time.

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from Tuesday night’s win over the Roos.

Oklahoma loses a tough nonconference matchup to Villanova 70-66

Oklahoma loses a hard fought nonconference battle on the road against Villanova. From @thatmanbryant

Oklahoma dropped a winnable nonconference game that could come back to bite them in March.

On a trip to the east coast to play new basketball powerhouse Villanova, the Sooners controlled the action for much of the game before watching their lead wilt away before losing to the Wildcats 70-66.

Villanova entered the game at 2-5, but that was hardly an indicator of the type of team they can and likely will be. The Sooners were led by Grant Sherfield, who posted 21 points, four rebounds, and four assists. He was flanked by the Groves’ who chipped in 14 points apiece.

Oklahoma outrebounded Villanova 27-18 but was outshot by the Wildcats, who shot over 55 percent from the field. Being outrebounded won’t matter if you make more shots than your opponent.

Villanova ended the game on a 17-7 run to seal the deal, with their defense leading the way. Five-star freshman Cam Whitmore led all players with three steals.

The Sooners, who saw their six-game winning streak end, built an early 11-point lead and were in control all game until Wildcats’ leading scorer Caleb Daniels gave them a 64-61 lead on a tough drive and finish late in the contest.

Jalen Hill made just the first of his 1-and-1, and a three-pointer from Daniels was the final blow to seal it, and the Wildcats iced it from the free-throw line.

Oklahoma will return to action on Tuesday against the Kansas City Roos.

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Oklahoma Sooners beat Ole Miss to win ESPN Events Invitational

Oklahoma continued its strong run through nonconference play with a 59-55 win over Ole Miss in the finals of the ESPN Events Invitational. From @john9williams

That loss to Sam Houston State feels like forever ago for the Oklahoma Sooners, who are now 6-1 after beating Ole Miss in the championship game of the ESPN Events Invitational.

Oklahoma trailed by three with just under five minutes to play before Bijan Cortes provided a spark on the defensive end with a steal and finished at the other end to make it a one-point game. After a Rebels miss, Cortes corralled the defensive rebound and scored again, to give the Sooners the lead for good.

The Sooners continued their hot shooting in Orlando by hitting 4 of 7 from three and shooting 52% from the field. Ole Miss shot for 45.1% from the field and just 33.3% from three.

It was a team win, with four players scoring in double-figures. [autotag]Grant Sherfield[/autotag] led the Sooners yet again with 12 points. [autotag]Tanner Groves[/autotag] had 10 points, while [autotag]Jacob Groves[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Hill[/autotag] provided seven a piece for the starting lineup.

[autotag]Sam Godwin[/autotag] provided a spark off the bench for the second game in a row. He finished with 11 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds. Bijan Cortes was 4 of 4 from the field for 10 points in the game. Cortes also had four steals, three rebounds, and two assists in 23 minutes of work off the bench.

Oklahoma won the rebounding battle over the Rebels and were even in turnovers.

It was an important win for the Sooners, who will next take on Villanova on the road. They’ll finish their nonconference slate with games against Kansas City, No. 9 Arkansas, Central Arkansas, and at home against Florida before taking on No. 4 Texas in the Big 12 opener.

Those games against Arkansas and Florida will prove pivotal to their tournament chances come March. Wins against those future SEC foes would provide strong bullet points on their resume come tournament time. With as tough as the Big 12 is, the Sooners need to finish their nonconference slate on a high note. Wins will be tougher to come by once they enter conference play.

Oklahoma Sooners pick up big win over Seton Hall 77-64, improve to 5-1

Led by Grant Sherfield’s 25 points, the Sooners picked up a big win over Seton Hall to move on to the ESPN Events Championship game. From @john9williams

Seton Hall guard Dre Davis gave the Pirates a 53-52 lead with 11:11 to go in the game and from that point on, it was all Oklahoma.

Led by [autotag]Grant Sherfield[/autotag]’s 25 points, the Sooners outscored Seton Hall 24-12 over the final 11 minutes to pick up a huge win in the ESPN Events Invitational. [autotag]Tanner Groves[/autotag] was big down the stretch, scoring five points in the final three minutes to help Oklahoma ice the game. Groves scored on a putback after gathering an offensive rebound. He followed that up with a three-pointer before coming up with a huge steal with under two minutes to play.

The Sooners had a fantastic night from the field, shooting 51.8% and hitting 50% of their three-point attempts. While they lost the rebounding battle, Oklahoma took care of the basketball, finishing with just eight turnovers in the game.

Led by Sherfield, four Sooners scored in double figures. [autotag]Sam Godwin[/autotag] had 12 points off the bench, and [autotag]Jacob Groves[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Hill[/autotag] each chipped in 10 point to help the Sooners continue their winning streak.

At 5-1 on the season, Sooners now move on to the championship of the ESPN Events to take on 6-0 Ole Miss. The Rebels earned a berth in the finals with a 74-62 win over Siena.

Groves brothers, Grant Sherfield come up big in Sooners win over South Alabama

The Oklahoma Sooners shot just 17% from three but rallied to pick up a win over South Alabama with some heroics from Jacob Groves. From @john9williams

The Oklahoma Sooners moved to 3-1 on the season with a 64-60 win over South Alabama. It wasn’t the best shooting night for the Sooners, but they found their stride down the stretch to pull out the win over the Jaguars.

Oklahoma trailed 60-56 with just over five minutes to play. Then the Sooners went on an 8-0 run to close out the game, including a three by [autotag]Grant Sherfield[/autotag], cut the lead to one with just over four minutes remaining.

The Sooners took a 62-60 on a three-pointer from [autotag]Jacob Groves[/autotag] on an assist from Sherfield. Groves then played hero again when with less than 30 seconds remaining, South Alabama’s Judah Brown stole the ball from Jalen Hill before tossing it down the court to Owen White, who had a chance at a game-tying dunk on the break.

Jacob Groves had other plans as he raced down the court and blocked White from behind to preserve the two-point lead.

Sherfield sealed the win with a couple of free throws as he and the Groves brothers led Oklahoma to their third win of the season.

Sherfield had 17 points and eight assists in the win, while [autotag]Tanner Groves[/autotag] chipped in 15 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. In addition to the go-ahead three and the game-saving block, Jacob Groves chipped in nine points.

It was a nice win on an off night from the field for the Oklahoma Sooners, who shot 43.6% from the field, but just 17.6% from three-point range. The difference in the contest was Oklahoma’s ability to get to the line. They shot eight more free throws than the Jaguars and scored six more from the free-throw line.

Oklahoma continues its long home stand to begin the season on Nov. 24 against Nebraska before their first road game of the season to take on Villanova on Dec. 3.

Here’s a look at the best photos from Friday night’s win.

Oklahoma Sooners take down UNC-Wilmington 74-53

The Oklahoma Sooners got big games from Grant Sherfield and Joe Bamisile for a big win over UNC-Wilmington 74-53. From @bendackiw

After stumbling out of the gate with a loss to the Sam Houston State Bearkats, the Oklahoma Sooner have rebounded with two straight wins. They’ve beaten Arkansas-Pine Bluff and now UNC-Wilmington 74-53 to improve their record to 2-1.

Oklahoma jumped out to an early 12-2 lead and controlled the game the rest of the way, never letting the Seahawks get within striking distance. Oklahoma led from start to finish and got up by as many as 24 points in the contest.

The three-point shot wasn’t falling for UNC-Wilmington. The Seahawks only made two three-pointers, both of which came from bench players. The Sooners went 10 of 23 from beyond the arc, shooting 43.5% from three-point range.

Senior guard [autotag]Grant Sherfield[/autotag] led the Sooners with 15 points on the night while shooting 5 of 13. He also contributed three rebounds and six assists. The Nevada transfer continues to pay huge dividends for the Sooners. His ability to penetrate opened the offense up for the Sooners. Joe Bamisile provided 15 points off the bench on 5 of 8 shooting from the field and 3 of 5 from three-point range. He was a spark for the Sooners’ offense throughout the game. Tanner and Jacob Groves each had seven points against the Seahawks.

[autotag]Tanner Groves[/autotag] and Jalen Hill each had nine rebounds as the Sooners won the battle of the boards 37-28.

The Sooners will have one more game at home in the Lloyd Noble Center against the South Alabama Jaguars before heading to Florida to play in the ESPN Events Invitational. They’ll open the tournament against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Huskers are off to a 3-1 start with wins over Chadron State, Maine and Omaha.

Oklahoma Sooners blow late lead, fall in season opener to Sam Houston State

The Oklahoma Sooners go cold late in the second half, drop their season opener 52-51 to the Sam Houston State Bearkats. From @bendackiw

This is not the start that Porter Moser envisioned for his second year at the University of Oklahoma.

OU turned the ball over 21 times and shot just 37.2% from the field and were outrebounded by six on the offensive glass. Neither team found much success from three-point range; both teams shot just over 26%.

Oklahoma took a seven-point lead into halftime and looked to be running away with the game late in the second half.

With just over five minutes to play, Tanner Groves hit a layup to put the Sooners up by 12. Then Oklahoma went cold, scoring just five points and hitting just two field goals down the stretch.

The Sooners were outscored 18-5 over the final five minutes by Sam Houston in the stunning upset. Turnovers and a poor shooting night ultimately sunk the Sooners in their season opener.

Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield had a solid night for the Sooners. He led the way with 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting. He was 2 of 3 from three and had five rebounds and two assists on the game. Sherfield was a bright spot on an otherwise disappointing night for the Sooners.

Starters Jalen Hill and C.J. Noland combined for one point on 0 for 12 shooting.

The Groves brothers had a bit more success. They had 11 points apiece, and Tanner grabbed nine rebounds on the evening. Jacob was a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line and added five rebounds.

OU will have Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday night for game two of this young season. The Lions gave the No. 14 TCU Horned Frogs all they could handle but lost 73-72.

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Oklahoma Sooners vs. St. Bonaventure in NIT: Stream, injury report and broadcast

Here’s how you can check out the action between the Oklahoma Sooners and St. Bonaventure in the NIT.

The Oklahoma Sooners responded to their NCAA Tournament snub in resounding fashion: an 89-72 win over the Missouri Tigers. They advance to host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in the second round of the NIT.

The Bonnies are a well-rounded team. They have five players averaging double figures and four players averaging more than five rebounds a game. Defensively, they’ll create problems for the Oklahoma Sooners who want to work the ball around the perimeter and find players on cuts.

For Oklahoma, however, it all comes down to hitting shots. When they were efficient from the floor during the season, they were good enough to beat any team they faced. The problem was they’d have off nights shooting.

Umoja Gibson started the NIT hot with 28 points against Missouri State, including 5 of 10 shooting from three. If he can repeat that performance against St. Bonaventure, the Sooners should be in good shape to pull out the victory at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Life will not be easy in the paint for the Oklahoma Sooners as Osu Osunniyi is a force in the middle of the defense. Averaging three blocks and 7.7 rebounds per game. Tanner Groves will have his work cut out to keep Osunniyi from getting easy buckets and offensive rebounds.

How to Watch

Date: March 20
Time: 7 p.m. CDT
TV Channel: ESPNU
Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)

Injury Report

Oklahoma

Elijah Harkless (out for the season)

St. Bonaventure

Linton Brown (out for season)

Anouar Mellouk (out indefinitely)

Players to watch

Oklahoma

Umoja Gibson: 12.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.4 steals per game.

Jordan Goldwire: 10.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.5 steals per game.

Tanner Groves: 11.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists per game.

St. Bonaventure

Jalen Adaway: 16.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal per game.

Jaren Holmes: 13.2 points, 5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals per game.

Osu Osunniyi: 11.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 1.5 assists per game.

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Oklahoma advances in NIT, knocks off Missouri State 89-72

Oklahoma senior guard Umoja Gibson poured in 28 points as the Sooners knocked off Missouri State, 89-72, in the first round of the NIT.

How Oklahoma approached its NCAA Tournament snub was always going to be a big factor in how well the Sooners performed after earning a No. 1 seed in the NIT.

So far, so good. Oklahoma (19-15, 7-11 Big 12) looked engaged and motivated in dismantling Missouri State inside the Lloyd Noble Center, 89-72. Senior guard Umoja Gibson got it going early and finished 8-for-17 from the floor and 5-of-10 on 3-pointers as he scored 28 points.

𝑊𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒!

OU tops Missouri State in the first round of the NIT and will be back home Sunday!#BoomerSooner pic.twitter.com/YC9CiNfjlP

— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) March 16, 2022

Redshirt senior point guard Jordan Goldwire chipped in 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and the Sooners shot 12-of-25 from 3-point range as a team. Redshirt senior forward Ethan Chargois, senior center Tanner Groves and junior forward Jalen Hill were all near double-figures for OU as well. Chargois and Groves each finished with nine points, while Hill added eight of his own.

Missouri State junior guard Isiaih Mosley enjoyed a big game as well, knocking down three 3-pointers and finishing 11-of-20 from the field to match Gibson’s 28 points. Senior forward Gaige Prim also added 14 points for the Bears, but Missouri State didn’t have enough outside of those two to hang with OU.

Oklahoma went on a 31-to-17 scoring run that began with Gibson’s layup just before halftime and culminated with Gibson canning a 3-pointer at the 10:05 mark of the second half to open up an 18-point advantage at 76-58. It was never in doubt for the Sooners from that point forward.

Oklahoma will now play the winner of Colorado (23-11) and Saint Bonaventure (20-9) on Sunday inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. On the opposite end of Oklahoma’s portion of the NIT bracket, Mississippi State (18-15) plays Virginia (19-13) and North Texas (24-6) takes on Texas State (21-7).

Oklahoma vs. Missouri State: stream, injury report, broadcast info for Monday

Oklahoma opens up play tonight in the NIT as a No. 1 seed versus Missouri State. Here’s how to watch.

After falling to Texas Tech 56-55 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, Oklahoma (18-15, 7-11 Big 12) just missed out on making the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Sooners have to refocus and turn their attention on showing the tournament selection committee what it missed out on.

At least, that’s what Oklahoma head men’s basketball coach Porter Moser has imparted upon his team ahead of its opening-round matchup of the NIT against Missouri State (23-10, 13-5 Missouri Valley Conference) inside the Lloyd Noble Center.

“We got a lot to play for. It’s the postseason. There’s a lot of teams that are home. There’s 250 teams that are home, you know, and in our first year, yeah, I wanted to go. I want to go to the NCAA Tournament every year. But we’ve got a chance to play postseason. What’s our legacy? You can be mad at people for not being selected or you can prove them wrong. And I choose to prepare, to fight, to go into this tournament trying to prove people wrong. That’s how I’m choosing it. And I want the players to follow my lead, and we’re going to have this film session and practice and they’re going to follow our coaching staff’s lead,” Moser said.

OU earned a No. 1 seed in the NIT along with fellow No. 1 seeds Dayton, SMU and Texas A&M. If the Sooners beat Missouri State, they will host the winner of Colorado and Saint Bonaventure.

How to watch:

Date: March 15
Time: 6 p.m. CST
TV Channel: ESPN
Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)
Radio: KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App

Missouri State at Oklahoma injury report:

Oklahoma:

Guard, Elijah Harkless: Harkless announced that he had suffered an unspecified season-ending injury on Feb. 18. Harkless averaged 10.0 points per game on 45.9 percent field goal shooting this season.

pic.twitter.com/2dCPdkFBg1

— Elijah Harkless (@ejay_hoops2) February 18, 2022

Missouri State:

Guard, Demarcus Sharp: According to the USA TODAY Sports injury database, Sharp has been out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair a lower-leg injury. Sharp last played on Jan. 5 in Missouri State’s 71-69 win over Bradley.

Players to watch:

Oklahoma:

Guard, Umoja Gibson: 12.5 points per game, 2.1 rebounds per game, 1.3 steals per game, 37.7 percent 3-point field goal shooting
Forward, Tanner Groves: 11.8 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 53.9 percent field goal shooting, 37.9 percent 3-point field goal shooting
Point guard, Jordan Goldwire: 10.5 points per game, 3.4 assists per game, 1.5 steals per game, 44.5 percent field goal shooting
Forward, Jalen Hill: 9.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, 58.3 percent field goal shooting

Missouri State:

Guard, Isiaih Mosley: 20.1 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 2.4 assists per game, 50.2 percent field goal shooting, 42.9 percent 3-point field goal shooting
Forward, Gaige Prim: 16.4 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game, 57.0 percent field goal shooting