NORMAN — There was a theme for Oklahoma as it exited the floor at Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday night.

Their second-half rally against Texas was too little, too late.

The Sooners fought hard and crawled all the way back from a 23-point deficit, even cutting the Longhorns' lead to three points with under three minutes to go. But their first-half miscues proved too much to overcome, as they fell 77-73 to the Longhorns.

The loss drops the Sooners to 13-4 on the season and 0-4 in the SEC. Despite the valiant effort, the Sooners remain winless in conference play and are at risk of remaining in the bottom of the conference standings.

Here's a few takeaways from the loss:

— The Sooners couldn't have looked more lifeless in the first half. The Longhorns opened the game on a 16-7 run and carried that to a 43-27 halftime advantage. The Sooners shot 38% from the floor, 12% from 3 and committed eight turnovers that led to eight points for Texas.

"That first 25 minutes was unacceptable competitiveness and there's no excuse, starting with me," OU coach Porter Moser said after the game.

In the second half, with a lineup featuring reserves Dayton Forsythe and Mohomad Wague, the Sooners crawled their way back into the game behind aggressive defense. The Sooners came roaring back behind a 17-1 run, which included a five-minute stretch where the Longhorns didn't score a basket. The Longhorns also coughed the ball up nine times in the second half.

"It was the effort. You just saw how hard (Forsythe) played," Moser said. "Glenn (Taylor) and (Wague), they just played hard. They just played really hard. It wasn't that they had crazy numbers, but it was diving on the floor. It was not accepting a catch. It was blowing up a handoff. It was just intangible toughness plays.

The Sooners shot 70% from the field in the second half, including 4-of-7 from the 3-point line, and made 14-of-18 free-throw attempts. But they committed a couple of turnovers late that kept them from overtaking the lead, while the Longhorns got a couple of huge baskets late from Tre Johnson to ice the game.

— There was a lot of attention on Jeremiah Fears, who struggled significantly in the first three conference games. Fears looked back to normal with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting while adding five rebounds and two assists. He scored eight of the team's 27 first-half points and was the only player who had a rhythm early.

His best moment came late in the game, when he got a steal and assisted Jalon Moore for a layup to cut the deficit to two points with 15 seconds to go. However, Texas quickly scored off the inbounds to seal the win.

— Moore was absolutely pivotal in the Sooners' second-half rally. He scored 26 of his 29 points after halftime while shooting a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from the 3-point line.

— The box score doesn't show it, but Forsythe's effort completely changed the game. He had a plus-minus of +14, adding a rebound and an assist.

— Mohamed Wague was again the lone bright spot for the big-man rotation. He scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds, finishing with a team-best 18 in plus-minus.

It was yet another rough outing for Sam Godwin, who finished with one point and two rebounds in 19 minutes. Luke Northweather didn't even check into the game.

The Sooners may have to seriously consider more minutes for Wague moving forward.

— The turnover issues also reappeared for the Sooners, who committed four turnovers in the first three minutes. They finished with 18, and 12 of those came from Duke Miles and Fears. The Longhorns finished with 15.

— Up next: The Sooners look to earn their first SEC win against South Carolina at 3 p.m. Saturday.

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