No. 9 Baylor trims determined Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners gave Baylor a pretty good run on its home floor on Tuesday night, but the Bears pulled out a 60-54 Big 12 victory at the Ferrell Center.
WACO, TEXAS — The complete game continues to elude Oklahoma.
The Sooners were strong defensively, and a strong offensive spurt late nearly brought them back even against No. 9-ranked Baylor. But OU failed to finish off the comeback and fell 60-54 at the Ferrell Center on Tuesday night in Big 12 men’s basketball.
It was the start and the finish — and Baylor’s inside tandem of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. and Johnathan Motley — that made it impossible to pull off the upset.
Oklahoma was down by double figures just eight minutes in and down by 15 just a couple minutes later.
But the Sooners (9-18, 3-12 Big 12), as they’ve done all season, kept fighting back.
It was OU’s second consecutive loss and 16th in 19 games, but only three of those losses came by more than 11 points.
The Sooners trimmed the lead to two, 49-47, on Jamuni McNeace’s hook shot with 9:21 remaining but then — as they did three days earlier at Oklahoma State — the offense went into hibernation.
Oklahoma was just 2 of 9 from the field the rest of the way, helping Baylor stay in front and prevent the Sooners from becoming the first team in school history to knock off two top-10 teams on the road during a season.
Motley dominated on both ends early, and LualAcuil Jr. made it difficult both for OU’s forwards to score at the rim or its guards to penetrate effectively.
The 7-foot Lual-Acuil Jr. had seven blocks, tying a career high. Baylor had 10 blocks total.
“It was very difficult,” Sooner freshman Kameron McGusty said of getting to the basket. “You’ve got two guys who are long protecting the basket. It’s very hard. We tried a lot to drive and kick to get good shots.”
But that proved difficult as the Sooners shot just 32.7 percent. The Bears also out-rebounded Oklahoma, 43-34.
“It was very tough,” freshman forward Kristian Doolittle said. “But 6-10 (Motley), 7-foot, it’s pretty tough to box out.
“Even if you are, they can still reach over you. We’ve just got to make a better effort to fully box them out and allow for others to go get the rebound even if it wasn’t for myself. It’s selfsacrifice.”
Motley finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds after being just one board away from a double-double in the first half.
The Sooners chipped away at the lead before McNeace’s hook pulled them to their closest point since the game’s opening minutes.
“I thought the activity defensively — we dug out a couple loose balls in the paint, got a couple turnovers that went the other way, just a little more aggressive perhaps,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said of the difference when OU got back in the game.
Manu Lecomte helped the Bears extend the lead. Lecomte hit a pair of 3-pointers about two minutes apart.
The Miami transfer’s first came as he pulled up near the top of the key as the shot clock ticked down to four, then he followed it by coming open off a screen to extend the lead back to eight with six minutes remaining.