Oklahoma (10-3, 1-0) and Kansas State (7-6, 0-1) opened Big 12 play in the Lloyd Noble Center with a bang.
The Sooners, after trailing for much of the game clawed their way out of a 10-point deficit, shutting the Wildcats out in the last 3:45 to win 66-61.
“Any conference game is a good win,” Kruger said postgame.
Oklahoma did struggle shooting the ball once again but doubled their efforts defensively, holding K-State to 34.9% from the field.
Kristian Doolittle and Austin Reaves dominated the scoring for the Sooners, tallying 40 of Oklahoma’s 66 points.
“I was in a good rhythm,” Reaves said.
18 of his 21 points came in the second half.
“Doo kept us in the game for the first thirty minutes of the game, and if it weren’t for that, we might’ve been down 15 late. Doo kept us in it, we kept battling and our team came away with a good win.”
Oklahoma dominated the boards early holding a four rebound advantage at the half before the Wildcats began grabbing boards in the Sooners 2-3 zone.
Doolittle’s aggressiveness early allowed the Sooners to hang within striking range all afternoon.
Although not great shooting performances, the young backcourt featuring freshman De’Vion Harmon and sophomore Jamal Bieniemy were outstanding defensively.
With three steals between them, Bieniemy and Harmon allowed themselves to stay out of the way of the offense while still contributing by locking down their assignments.
Kruger pulled out a 2-3 zone inside the last five minutes to shut out Kansas State in the last 3:45.
“Jamal had one or two deflections in the middle of the zone when they were trying to get it into the middle and De’Vion had one or two,” Kruger said.
“So we just came up with some big steals there and it led to good things on the other end.”
Another huge factor was Oklahoma’s ability to get to the foul line. The Sooners were 23-29 from the charity stripe to K-State’s five of nine.
Oklahoma’s next game is Wednesday at Texas. The game can be viewed on ESPN2 at 8p.m. CT.
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