Sooner Men's BB in LNC against Kansas @ 3 PM on Billy Tubbs Day!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Men will host the Kansas Jayhawks today in a 3 PM tip-off at Lloyd Noble Center. The day will be Billy Tubbs Day in the LNC as the Sooners reach back to the very good ole days with Coach Billy and Billy Ball. The Sooners may need some help from the inspiring coach as they are 6-6 in the conference and sits in 8th place. Kansas is 7-5 and in 5th Place in the conference. Kansas is only 1-5 on the road in the Big 12 season as they have only defeated OSU on the road. Let's keep that poor streak going today. Oklahoma is trying to hold onto the 8th seed in the Big 12 Tourney and a win today would really help against the #6 ranked Jayhawks. OU is ranked #25/#21.

The Big 12 conference contest will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing and be broadcast by ESPN with Rich Hollenberg (PxP) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) on the call.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the game, the fun and the salute to Coach Tubbs today.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/2/16 ... n-saturday

For the Sooners, Hugley IV and Soares are questionable today due to healing injuries. If they can't play, the Sooners will have to go deeper in their bench to Northweather, Cooper and Keita. The LNC should be sold out today, let's rock, chalk the Jayhawks back to Lawrence with a loss today!

Boomer Sooner!

[soonerindallas]

HIT FREETHROWS!!!!!!!!!!

[Oklahombre]

ESPN score tracker link.
Currently 41-39 2nd half

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... /401603479

[soonerindallas]

Honoring Billy Tubbs at the half was the highlight of this game. Same 'ol, same 'ol. Some good moments, but talent wins in the end. KU recruits stud, difference makers & we don't. We may get a bid to the tournament, but will be one & done.

[EMan]

No Hugley or Soares today due to injuries. And of course McCullers returns to the KU lineup. Fighting an uphill battle today. But not a good second half at all. Everything disappeared on both ends of the court.

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Kansas - OU game on Saturday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/2/17 ... o-6-kansas

Oklahoma travels to Stillwater, Okla., for Bedlam on Saturday, Feb. 24.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

I had this typed up before the OU Softball game started today, but as I was rushing to check a couple of things, I hit the wrong button, trying again now to post about the game.

The loss to Kansas on Saturday does hurt the Sooners. I was hoping for a better result, but as most games in the Big 12, the result of the game usually determined by a couple of runs for one team or the other. In the game Saturday, there two runs that really hurt the Sooners. The result was a 67 to 57 win for the many Kansas fans in LNC. They all stayed for the final seconds to count down. That was not the case for many of the Sooner fans as they exited LNC with about 5 minutes left to play. The Kansas fans sitting around me, were shocked by that. They did not understand running out on your team. Their words, not mine. But I do understand it.

The Sooners played very well for the first 16 and half minutes of the game. At that point the Sooners led 31-21 over the Jayhawks. Kansas turned over the ball and OU had a 3-point shot to lead by 13, but it was missed, After a Kansas 2-point bucket, Darthard did hit a 3-pointer for Oklahoma to make the lead 11 points with 2 minutes to play in the half. Kansas proceeded to score 6 straight points to end the half as Oklahoma missed in the paint, turned the ball over and missed in the paint again. Those six points probably made a big difference.

Oklahoma's lead was built on 7 of 12 shooting from downtown with 3 of 8 free throws which could have been better, but Kansas shot no free throws in the first half, amazingly, as OU only committed 4 fouls and none as shooting fouls. From inside the arc, OU was only 5 of 16 in the first half for the rest of their points to add up to 34 points. That trend grew in the 2nd half.

Leading by 5, the Sooners opened with a three by McCollum and two free throws to get to 39 points as Kansas scored 10 points to tie the game at 39-all five minutes into the second half wiping out those 16+ minutes of good basketball by OU in just half the time.

Oklahoma built the lead back to 3 points on a huge dunk and foul play by Godwin when he made the free throw just inside 10 minutes left to play. But Kansas made two 3's sandwiched around a Sooner miss on a "3" to take the lead 49-46. OU immediately took a time out that turned into a media timeout. Oklahoma cut the lead to 1 point on 2 free throws by McCollum in the first possession after the timeout. A 2-point bucket followed by a 3-point bucket (an OU turnover was between them), Kansas took a 6 point lead with 8 minutes left and a 54-48 Kansas lead. From that point, OU never got closer than 4 points. Kansas closed the game by outscoring OU 13-9 in the final 8 minutes.

I think that not having Soares and Hugley IV available to play hurt the Sooners, especially in the second half. Soares is a critical piece of the puzzle for the Sooners. Hugley IV would have been help inside.

That trend in the first half of limited 2-point buckets continued but it was even true for 3-pointers. Oklahoma made four buckets from the field in the second half as they were 4 of 22. The only thing that kept the Sooners in the game for awhile was that they were 14 of 15 from the charity stripe. Kansas made 13 buckets in the second half along with 9 free shots. The Sooners, who would like to play up-tempo, shot barely above 1 shot a minute in the second half. The offense really just ground to a halt unless a Sooner went to the bucket to score or draw a foul.

Inside, the Jayhawks outrebounded the Sooners 31 to 24 and they outscored the Sooners 30 to 14. Both teams had 11 turnovers, but Kansas scored 5 more points off them. I thought Dickinson (the big 7-footer for Kansas) had a quiet game live, but he scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds. Around me, the Kansas fans did not think he is very good at all. Furphy added 15 on only 8 shots, Harris, McCullar and Adams added 30 for the Jayhawks.

OU was led by Moore with 17 on ten shots with McCollum scoring 15 on only 7 shots. The two Sooners were 11 of 12 from the charity stripe. Everybody else scored 25 points with Uzan scoring 11 of them. Soares usual output was really missed. Oweh has been hard to find offensively lately as well.

With the loss, Oklahoma is now 6-7 in conference play with 5 games left. They have the weekdays off this week before they travel to Stillwater for the second Bedlam wrestling match this year, sorry, Bedlam basketball game. Cincy travels to Cincy to play a mid-week game. I hope OU finds some offensive answers and that Soares and Hugley IV mend well and are able to play in Stillwater. They could make a big difference in the Royal Rumble, ah....sorry again, in Bedlam.

The Sooners are now in 8th place in the conference. They need to stay in that 8 to 9 seed-range for the Big 12 Tourney or move up to the 6-7 spots. Oklahoma has 5 games left and they should take one game at a time and not look ahead. That is all. They have 3 road games to conquer in that set. Currently, 3 of those teams are below the Sooners in the conference and the other two are tied for first place. The Big 12 is never easy.

The Billy Tubbs celebration was worth seeing at halftime. I am sure lots of Sooners enjoyed the memories and seeing some of the old coaches and players.

Good luck to the Sooners healing this week and get that offense back on track this week also.

Boomer Sooner!