Sooners aim to break Kansas home-winning streak
LAWRENCE, KAN. — Rashard Odomes knows about “the Phog.”
During each of his first two trips to Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse, Oklahoma had double-digit leads in the second half, only to have the Jayhawks come back and win the game.
Odomes and the Sooners make the trip to Kansas on Monday to face the No. 13 Jayhawks (8 p.m., ESPN).
Allen Fieldhouse has been the toughest road venue in college basketball for a long time, though this season the Jayhawks have shown some cracks on their home floor.
Kansas has lost three games in its own gym, the most during coach Bill Self’s 15 seasons.
“The energy they bring when they’re there,” Odomes said of what makes winning at Kansas difficult. “It’s just a tough place to play at, with the crowd, the atmosphere. Some people aren’t used to playing there, and they haven’t had that experience yet. Once they get it going out there, it’s hard to stop them.”
Oklahoma hasn’t won at Allen Fieldhouse since 1993.
Two seasons ago, Odomes observed from
the bench in one of the best regular-season basketball games ever played. The Sooners let a 10-point lead early in the second half slip away, and Kansas eventually beat Oklahoma 109-106 in triple overtime despite 46 points from Buddy Hield.
Last year, the Sooners were in the midst of a forgettable season when they visited then-No. 1 Kansas.
At halftime, Oklahoma was tied. With 10 minutes left, the Sooners were up by 12 after Odomes dished to Kameron McGusty for a 3-pointer.
The Jayhawks reeled off a 22-4 run over the next five minutes to take control.
“Their teams are good to start with, and the crowd is great and they’ve got great confidence in what they’re doing,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “When you add all that together ... all that adds up.”
West Virginia experienced all of that Saturday night, leading by 10 with 7:22 left before Kansas went on a 26-8 run to close the game. KU scored 14 points at the free-throw line.
“You can’t simulate that,” Kruger said of preparing a team to play at Kansas. “Practice is one thing, a game at Allen is another.”
The Jayhawks wound up shooting 35 free throws in Saturday’s game, while West Virginia shot two. Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins was ejected in the waning seconds of the game.
While the Sooners certainly want to break their 16-game losing streak at the fabled venue, more than anything, OU needs to regain some positive momentum after losing five consecutive games.
“We need to do things better, make shots and get our spirits back up a little bit,” Kruger said. “When you’re not making shots, it changes a lot of what you can do —what you want to do. You just keep trying to promote confidence, promote aggressiveness, keep promoting good basketball plays.”
After Saturday’s home loss to Texas, Trae Young said the Sooners had not lost confidence.
He said he felt sure the Sooners could get back to playing like they were earlier in the season when they rose to No. 4 in the polls.
Odomes reiterated that Sunday.
“We’re definitely confident,” Odomes said. “We’re not going to hold our heads (down) and feel bad about ourselves. In these next four games that we’re about to have, we can still turn it around and have a great stretch.”