Sooners get defensive vs. Tech
OKLAHOMA CITY – The same thing that makes the Big 12 such a grind is what gives a team like Oklahoma so many opportunities to show why it belongs in the NCAA tournament.
Coming in reeling on a three-game losing streak, the Sooners put together their best defensive showing of the season in a 65-51 dominant performance against No. 22 Texas Tech on Tuesday evening at Chesapeake Arena.
OU had essentially played itself onto the bubble. Less than two weeks ago, the Sooners were a firm No. 9 seed, according to most analysts. Losses to Baylor and Kansas are certainly excusable, but there was nothing to be said about the flat Bedlam outing at Oklahoma State on Saturday.
All you could do was get back out there and bounce back. And although OU shot well at nearly 47 percent from the floor, it was the defense that paved the way. The Sooners held Tech to 33 percent shooting and the 51 points is the lowest amount of the season.
The last couple of weeks you could sort of sense the grind and the toll that was being taken on Kristian Doolittle and Brady Manek as they constantly go up against bigger guys and bigger teams.
Tech is one of the few clubs where the Sooners can use their size and that big-time help came from Kur Kuath off the bench. Playing 17 minutes, Kuath had five blocks and altered several others.
“Kur's been playing well. Again, I thought he not only blocked shots but changed shots at the rim and then rebounded the ball well,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “He was great. Probably maybe a season-high in minutes, I'm not sure. But he played those minutes great, and we needed that from him. And again Kur gives us that rim protection on the half court defensively that was our best at that.”
It was going to be an interesting night for Doolittle. After breaking his nose at OSU, he was playing with a mask for the first time in his career. You could tell early he was adapting to things, uncharacteristically asking to be taken out of the lineup.
After four points in the first half, Doolittle came alive for 15 in the second half to finish with a game-high 19 points and adding seven rebounds.
“It's not something I would like to do again, but I have to wear it for the rest of the season,” Doolittle said. “It affected me a little bit, but the hardest thing was just breathing. I got taken out a few times because I was winded, but I was able to fight through that, especially in the second half, just being able to play a good game.”
Tech never led in the game, and OU had a double-digit lead for almost the entire second half. The win doesn’t punch OU’s ticket to the dance, but it definitely gets it on the right side of that dreaded bubble heading into Saturday’s game at No. 20 West Virginia.
“Yea, every game at this point, there’s four left, now three left,” Kruger said. “The guys understand. If we’re good enough, we’ll win enough to get there. If we’re not, then we’ll be watching. But that’s kind of what it’s like for 30, 40 teams in that mix.”
Notes
*OU will never be confused for a big, imposing team. However, the Sooners used their size and physicality against the Red Raiders. OU had 10 blocks and a 43-29 rebounding advantage, taking control of the glass in the second half.
“We just know that they're physical throughout the game, so that's something that we worked on in practice was making sure the guards get back to the ball and collect long rebounds and just get in there and help the bigs out,” Jamal Bieniemy said.
Bieniemy and Austin Reaves each had 11 points, while Reaves had a team-high eight boards and Bieniemy had seven.
Quotable
“Obviously that’s an NCAA tournament team.” – Tech coach Chris Beard on the Sooners.