The Oklahoma Sooners squared off with the TCU Horned Frogs on the hardwood during Tuesday evening. While TCU hasn’t faired well in Big 12 play since joining the conference, the program knew there was a shot to start off right against a Buddy Hield-less Sooner squad. Standing 11-2 on the season entering the game, the Horned Frogs found themselves in a nine point hole during the first half. However, the deficit dwindled to one with under four minutes to play in the opening twenty minutes.
Battling back and forth one thing became apparent: this Oklahoma team does not know how to close out a game. Unable to score a point over a 3:37 span, OU clung to a 50-47 lead. With nearly eight minutes left in regulation, the Sooners managed a mere seven points. Once again, the leadership and experience of Jordan Woodard, who missed Tuesday’s contest, was painfully obvious.
TCU failed to fair much better over the same span collecting 13 point over the final eight minutes. Yet, the effort was good enough to secure the ninth Big 12 win since joining the league.
The Horned Frogs’ Alex Robinson scored a game high 18 points as a starter. Getting a bit of help off the bench, Brandon Parrish added 10 of his own. No opposing starter found themselves with double-digits in scoring.
For Oklahoma, the bench produced a majority of the points with Kameron McGusty leading the way. The freshman collected 11 points. Don’t fault this team for attacking the basket. Give credit to the TCU defense for racking up 13 blocks on the evening.
Regardless of how you slice it, this may very well be rock bottom for the Sooners. Standing 6-7 on the year, the worse start under Lon Kruger continues in what should have been a winnable game.