The Oklahoma Sooners hung in there with the surging Texas Tech Red Raiders for much of their matchup on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hang in there for a full 40 minutes, losing 74-63.
Oklahoma won the turnover battle 16-8 but couldn’t take advantage on a night when they shot just 35.6% from the field and 27.3% from three. The story of the night was just a microcosm of the season. Play close for 35 minutes and then fade down the stretch.
It was just a four-point Red Raiders lead with just over two minutes to play in the game. Oklahoma got their chances but couldn’t hit shots and couldn’t get stops on the defensive end as Tech ballooned their lead from four points to 11 for the final margin.
[autotag]Grant Sherfield[/autotag] struggled from the floor in this game, going 3 of 13 from the field and 3 of 11. As a team, Oklahoma was 9 of 33 from beyond the arch. [autotag]Tanner Groves[/autotag] (2 of 3) and [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag] (2 of 4) were the only two to make 50% or more of their three-point attempts.
Groves led the team with 16 points and 6 rebounds in the loss. Four Sooners scored in double figures, but the bench only provided nine points between Sam Godwin, [autotag]C.J. Noland[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Groves[/autotag], and Joe Bamisile. The bench was a combined 3 of 14 on the evening.
With the loss, the Sooners’ slim NCAA tournament hopes are pretty much dashed. They’re now 13-15 on the season and 3-12 in the Big 12 with a rough three-game stretch to close the season against three top 25 opponents.
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