OU JOURNAL, DEFENSE PROPELS SOONERS TO WIN,
NORMAN — Just 12 seconds into the second half of Tuesday night’s game at Lloyd Noble Center, Texas Tech star Keenan Evans drove toward the basket with sights on stealing back the sliver of momentum Oklahoma had built late in the first half.
But Lattin snuffed out that thought, swatting away Evans’ shot and grabbing the rebound himself before finishing on the other end.
In the No. 9 Sooners 75-65 win over No. 8 Texas Tech, an Oklahoma team that had become known not only around the Big 12 as a fast-paced offensive team that outscored opponents instead of trying to slow them down much defensively turned the tables.
The Sooners’ offense wound up doing plenty, scoring the most points Texas Tech had surrendered since a Nov. 30 loss to Seton Hall, but it was the defense that set the tone this time around.
Lattin and Rashard Odomes were big parts of that.
Lattin took over the interior, blocking seven shots to become just the fourth OU player with 200 blocks in a career. He also had eight rebounds and 11 points.
“It makes the other team think twice about going into the lane,” Sooners star Trae Young said. “They’re a team that likes to drive the ball a lot, and we trust Khadeem and Jamuni (McNeace) to have our backs when we get beat off the dribble, and Khadeem did a great job.”
That security allowed the Sooners to take chances on the perimeter, which paid off in the first half when Young had four steals leading to six points on the other end.
“They’re an opportunistic defense,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “You think you’re doing OK, Lattin will block a shot; you think you’re doing OK, Trae will get a steal; you think you’re doing OK, one of those players will take a charge.
“Kind of like in football, you’ve got a defense maybe giving up yards but you’re getting turnovers and stuff. Kind of felt that way about Oklahoma tonight.”
Then there was Odomes, pestering Evans and others on the perimeter regularly.
Evans, the reigning Big 12 player of the week, was just 7 of 17 from the floor and 1 for 5 from behind the 3-point line.
Leading up to the game, Beard found himself showing film of Odomes to his players, not for scouting purposes but to teach them how to play on the defensive end.
This from a coach whose team entered the game No. 3 nationally in defensive efficiency.
“He’s one of the best players in the Big 12 that doesn’t get talked about,” Beard said. “Gave us all we could handle last year, plays multiple positions, plays hard too.
“I actually took a couple of the clips from his personnel tape this week and showed some of our younger guys, ‘This is how you play the game.’”
Texas Tech as a team finished just 24 percent from behind the arc and 37 percent from the floor as a whole.
It doesn’t figure to be the last game the Sooners will need to win with defense.
“It’s a good step,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “We’ve much more comfortable, obviously, where there’s tempo, flow and pace to the game. It’s not always going to be that way in Big 12 play.
“When it’s not, you can’t just say, ‘We’ll wait for another game where there’s better tempo.’ You have to win those, too. Guys are understanding that more and more.”