SOONERS STUMBLE AT TECH
TEXAS TECH 65, NO. 3 OU 63 UPSET LOSS ALL BUT ELIMINATES OU FROM BIG 12 TITLE CONTENTION
LUBBOCK, Texas — The last player to leave the Sooners’ locker room on Wednesday night was a sullen Buddy Hield.
“It was different,” Hield said after the No. 3 Sooners fell to Texas Tech, 65-63. “Just missing shots. I’ve got to do a better job of making shots.”
Oklahoma’s problems right now are much more serious than not winning the Big 12.
The conference championship is now firmly out of the picture for the Sooners.
“I’m just mad we lost, man, to be honest,” Hield said. “It’s tough to take right now.”
Oklahoma’s attention now turns to fixing its offense, which spent most of the season beating teams with near-50 percent shooting from behind the arc and a strong transition game.
But for the fifth consecutive game, the Sooners (20-5, 8-5 Big 12) struggled from the outside, shooting just 6 of 23 on 3-pointers.
After shooting close to 50 percent on 3-pointers for much of the year, the Sooners are just 42 of 131 (32.1 percent) from behind the arc over the last five games.
Hield, who came in seemingly with national player of the year honors on lockdown, had a hot start and then faded the rest of the way.
The top scorer in major college basketball scored the Sooners’ first 10 points but had just six points in the game’s final 33 minutes. It was his lowest scoring output since he had 12 in a win over Wisconsin on Nov. 29.
“We’re a club that needs to shoot the ball well; no question about that,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “I know Buddy is going to bounce back. He hasn’t had many nights like this for sure. We have to keep working at it.”
Hield was just 6 of 16 from the floor and just 3 for 10 from behind the 3-point line.
With about five minutes left in the game and the Sooners up by a point, Hield seemingly had an open look at a 3-pointer in transition but passed up the shot, dribbled around and threw up a contested 3-pointer that missed the mark.
“I didn’t really seem tentative,” Hield said when asked if he’d passed up shots he’d normally take. “I just missed shots. It’s just one of those games where you miss shots. I thought I had it going but I just missed shots.
“I’m pretty (mad), I’m not going to lie.”
Oklahoma’s struggles weren’t limited to Hield. Isaiah Cousins, who has been the Sooners’ best offensive threat recently, was just 3 of 9 from the floor without a 3-pointer while Ryan Spangler was just 2 of 7.
But even with those issues, the Sooners still had a chance to tie or win the game in the final seconds.
Kruger wanted to give Hield the final shot coming off a screen but Tech — as teams have done lately against Hield — switched off of it and instead Cousins drove to the basket.
He lobbed it to Khadeem Lattin at the rim but the lob was off the mark, Spangler’s put-back try missed the mark and Toddrick Gotcher grabbed the rebound to end the game as Texas Tech students flooded the floor.
“If you’re not getting loose balls, it concerns you,” Kruger said. “I thought Tech did a good job of getting loose balls and second shots back late. You have to win those battles.”
Oklahoma didn’t Wednesday and lost for the third time in four games.