James has 14 points, 13 rebounds; Oklahoma tops Wichita St.
OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma’s defense suffocated Wichita State in an 80-48 win on Saturday at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Sooners held the Shockers to 6-for-30 shooting in the second half. Overall, Wichita State shot just 24.2 percent—the fourth-lowest field goal percentage by an Oklahoma opponent during the Lon Kruger coaching era started in 2011.
“Guys just have an understanding of their roles, what they need to do to help the team to be effective defensively,” Kruger said. “It has become contagious. Guys have a lot of pride on that end of the floor.”
The Sooners have held three of their past four opponents under 60 points, fueling a four-game win streak.
“I think that just has a lot to do with us enjoying playing defense,” Oklahoma guard Miles Reynolds said. “We know when we’re locked in defensively. When we’re playing as a unit, not too many teams are going to get very good looks against us. That’s going to allow us to get out in transition.”
The offense was working, too. Christian James had 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, Reynolds scored 14 points, Matt Freeman scored 11 and Aaron Calixte added 10 for the Sooners (8-1).
James, the Big 12’s leading scorer with nearly 20 points per game, made 3 of 6 3-pointers.
Markis McDuffie scored 19 points for Wichita State, but he made just 6 of 17 shots. No one else scored in double figures for the Shockers (4-4).
“We weren’t executing,” McDuffie said. “So I guess guys were feeling we had to force up shots. We weren’t poised.”
The Sooners led 25-22 in the first half before a 3-pointer by James started a 7-0 run that pushed Oklahoma’s lead to 32-22. Oklahoma led 32-27 at halftime behind 12 points and 10 rebounds from James.
A 3-pointer by freshman Jamal Bieniemy early in the second half pushed Oklahoma’s lead back up to 10. A 3-pointer by Calixte increased the lead to 51-34, and the Sooners controlled the rest of the game.
“It was a good win against a club that’s going to win a lot of ball games this year,” Kruger said. “I thought the first half we looked careless with the ball. I was really impressed with the way the guys regrouped and really came out and played awfully well in the second half.”
Houston 63, Oklahoma State 53
STILLWATER, Okla.—Armoni Brooks scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds to help lead Houston over Oklahoma State.
Brooks, the reigning American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, shot 7-of-13 from 3-point range, tying a career-high, while the Cougars (8-0) connected on 35.3 percent of their 3-pointers overall (12 for 34). Corey Davis Jr. added 14 points and seven rebounds for Houston.
Freshman Isaac Likekele scored a careerhigh 16 points and had four assists to lead Oklahoma State (4-5), which lost its third straight game. Thomas Dziagwa added 13 points and six rebounds for the Cowboys.
Likekele capped off a 10-0 Oklahoma State run with a 3-pointer from the left corner 2:32 into the second half to give the Cowboys a 37-36 advantage, but Houston responded with three consecutive 3-pointers of its own, two from Brooks, and never relinquished the lead again. The Cowboys pulled to within 47-45 on Lindy Waters’ 3-pointer with 12:02 remaining, but that was as close as they would get.
The teams played twice a year while members of the Missouri Valley Conference, but this was their first meeting since the first round of the 1965 NCAA Tournament. The Cougars’ win marks their first in Stillwater in nine tries.
Tulsa 47, No. 16 Kansas State 46
TULSA, Okla.—Martins Igbanu made a go-ahead jump hook with 1:51 remaining, and Tulsa edged No. 16 Kansas State.
Curran Scott scored 14 points for Tulsa (7-3), and Igbanu had nine points and six rebounds. The Hurricane got their second straight victory against the Big 12, also topping Oklahoma State 74-71 on Wednesday.
Kansas State had one last chance in the final seconds, but Barry Brown Jr. rimmed out a floater on a drive into the lane. Several tips misfired and the Tulsa students stormed the court to celebrate.
Xavier Sneed had 13 points and 10 rebounds, but the Wildcats (6-2) shot 30.5 percent (18 for 59) from the field. They also committed 16 turnovers.
The Hurricane also struggled offensively, shooting 38 percent (19 for 50) and committing 15 turnovers. They were outrebounded 42-34 by the Wildcats.
Tulsa opened a 45-40 lead on a long 3-pointer by Jeriah Horne with 4:19 left. But Kansas State came right back.
Sneed made two 3-pointers to help the Wildcats to a 46-45 lead with 2:24 left, setting the stage for Igbanu’s big play.
Tulsa’s matchup zone defense baffled Kansas State all game long, just as it did in a 61-54 victory in 2017. Dean Wade, the Wildcats’ leading scorer coming into the day, finished with two points on 1-for-6 shooting. Brown and Kamau Stokes combined to shoot 4 for 24.
West Virginia 69, Pittsburgh 59
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Beetle Bolden scored 18 points to lead West Virginia to a 69-59 win over archrival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.
The Mountaineers (6-3) won the defensive slugfest by doing what they do best, force turnovers. Pitt’s 24 turnovers led to 22 points for their former Big East rivals. WVU also struggled however, with 26 turnovers throughout the game, the most by a Mountaineer team since 2002.
“They play really hard,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said of Pitt. “They play really hard and (Pitt head coach) Jeff (Capel) runs really good stuff.”
Both West Virginia and Pittsburgh played chippy basketball in the first half. Jared Wilson-Frame and Kene Chukwuka of Pitt as well as Lamont West and Andrew Gordon of WVU picked up technical fouls in the first half.
“Every game is always physical,” WVU’s Sagaba Konate said. “It’s just how you react to it, so that’s what we did. We reacted to it today.”
The Panthers (7-3) were hampered primarily by poor shooting early. After a Sidy N’Dir dunk put Pitt up three midway through the first half, the Panthers went on a shooting drought that would last more than eightand-a-half minutes. Wilson-Frame and Trey McGowens nailed a couple of 3s late, but the Mountaineers went into the locker room with a 39-27 lead.
Pitt struggled to chip away at West Virginia’s lead throughout the game, but a late 6-0 run with under three minutes left did cut the lead to single digits. Bolden responded with a couple of free throws with under a minute left and the Panthers were unable to make a shot with the remaining 58 seconds.
Konate came off the bench to score 16 points with nine rebounds. Konate also added seven blocks, which broke a West Virginia school record. Esa Ahmad added 13 points.
Xavier Johnson led Pitt with 21 points and six rebounds. McGowens added 18 points.