No. 16 Oklahoma was back at the Lloyd Noble Center for the final time this season on Thursday night against rival No. 15 Texas in a rematch of their game back in January. On that night, the Sooners upset the Longhorns in their place. In the rematch, it was a different story.
Texas absolutely thrashed Oklahoma inside creating a great deal of separation in the first half and early stages of the second. But, the Sooners would fight back to rally and take a lead led by the spark of Kur Kuath off the bench.
But, at the end of the game, the same issues that have plagued them in this losing skid reared their ugly head once again. The offense got stagnant, they couldn’t get stops when they needed to and just generally weren’t the better team when it mattered most.
Austin Reaves was the high-scorer for Oklahoma in the losing effort with 16 points on 4 of 12 shooting. The Longhorns had two 16-point scorers of their own with Andrew Jones and Jericho Sims.
The loss is the Sooners’ fourth straight and has them finish the regular season at 14-9 and in seventh place in the Big 12 standings. Here are three immediate takeaways from yet another close loss for Oklahoma:
It was a weird night for Kur Kuath
Kur Kuath has had an unusual season for Oklahoma this year, going from a starter to having his minutes severely cut down over the course of the last couple of months.
In this game, he inexplicably never saw the floor in the first half leaving many to assume he sustained some sort of injury. But then, suddenly, he entered the game in the second half and immediately picked up a huge block that brought the Lloyd Noble Center to life. He was the spark plug to a big Sooners run that helped them rally all the way to taking the lead.
Lon Kruger didn’t really shed any light postgame as to why it took so long for him to enter, leaving it largely a mystery as to where he stands going forward. Kruger did say that he was “great” in his minutes and stepped up big when the team needed to him.
It is very difficult to figure out what to make of anything regarding Kuath’s status on the team right now, but it is a storyline that is incredibly interesting and certainly something to keep an eye on moving forward. The impact he is capable of having when he is playing well is obvious, and he can be a really big asset to the team if he gets minutes and is at his best.