It still wasn’t as pretty as it was earlier in the season, but at this point, Oklahoma would take any sort of positive to attempt to get back on track.

The 79-73 win against Iowa State on Wednesday night to open the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City was just that type of victory.

It’s not flashy, but it ends the four-game losing streak and puts No. 25 OU (15-9) in position to start building some momentum against Kansas on Thursday evening.

For most of the game, it appeared as though OU was going to be able to breathe easy down the stretch. Defense leading to offense turned a 36-28 halftime advantage to a 51-32 lead before ISU caught fire and narrowed it down to 75-71.

Down the stretch, as has been the case most of this season, it was Austin Reaves who picked up his level of play and made sure OU won its first conference tournament game since 2016.

“It was huge,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “If I recall, it was back-to-back possessions where he made the two-pointer and then the three-pointer and some others as well. Yea, just huge plays at a time where we really need to stem their run. He’s done that for us on many occasions. Certainly, he was great at that time tonight.”

Reaves finished with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Despite going 3-0 vs. ISU this season, it was never easy although there were signs during the early part of the second half of the Sooners regaining their January form.

Big reasons for that would be the play of De’Vion Harmon and Elijah Harkless. It was Harmon, who once again got OU off to a fast start and finished with 18 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Harkless made his name earlier this season by doing all the little things and that Harkless was alive and well vs. the Cyclones. He had 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals.

“Defensively, we created a lot of offense during that stretch when we took it to what, 18, 19? A lot of that was from the defense in terms of getting it out and getting in transition and finishing on the offensive end,” Kruger said. “E.J. was great – active, aggressive all night.”

The win sets the stage for a third battle with KU. The Sooners and the Jayhawks split during the regular season. KU will be without center David McCormack as head coach Bill Self announced Tuesday that McCormack will miss the Big 12 tournament because of COVID-19 safety protocols.

Notes

*That’s the type of center production OU is going to need. Between Brady Manek and Kur Kuath, they combined for 15 points, eight rebounds (seven by Manek) and three blocks by Kuath.

Without McCormack, it will be intriguing to see how the lineups are altered and what kind of matchups end up taking place.

*Playing with a heavy heart was Alondes Williams. His grandmother died in the last week, and Williams flew to the Milwaukee area for the funeral and arrived in Kansas City on Wednesday morning.

“Thoughts and prayers are with Alondes and his family,” Kruger said. “Any time a young man has to go through that, it’s tough, it’s tough. Credit to him that he wanted to get back and wanted to play. He said that’s what his grandmother would want. It was good to get him in there. He’ll bounce back even more comfortable tomorrow.”

Williams had five points and three rebounds in nine minutes.