No. 7 Oklahoma was back at the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday for the first time in three weeks to host in-state rival Oklahoma State in the first of two consecutive matchups between the two over a three-day span.
It was a tremendous game that went back and forth all the way down to the wire, even needing five more minutes to decide a winner. But, in the end, Cade Cunningham and the Cowboys were the better team outlasting the Sooners 94-90.
De’Vion Harmon and Austin Reaves were both very solid for Lon Kruger’s group, scoring 23 and 22 points respectively and making several key plays down the stretch to keep the team hanging in despite Cunningham’s barrage of shot-making and incredible playmaking.
The loss dips Oklahoma to 14-7 on the year and looking for answers with not a lot of time to find them. Here are three immediate takeaways to this Bedlam classic in Norman:
Couldn’t stop Cade Cunningham
An obvious big story coming into the game was how Oklahoma planned to deal with potential future No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Cade Cunningham. At first, the Sooners elected to start Jalen Hill in place of Elijah Harkless, which didn’t exactly go well with the Cowboys scoring 20 points in the first eight minutes and change with Cunningham settling in quickly.
Once Harkless entered the game, the defense for Oklahoma picked up significantly, with Cunningham slowing down and Oklahoma State generally not having it come nearly as easy on the offensive end. But, that would only last for so long.
Down the stretch and in the overtime period, Cunningham flat took over this game and showed everyone why the hype around him is so large. He was absolutely tremendous scoring 40 points that his team really needed to get the road upset.
It really feels like the game boiled down largely to the simple fact of the Sooners not having any answers for him late, and now they have just over 48 hours to figure out how to adjust to dealing with him again on Monday.