Kansas and Oklahoma moved to the top two spots in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll and the Big 12 schools will meet Monday night. It was easily the best game of this college basketball season. There’s always, it would appear, someone who is better than him at Kansas but he showed in this game why he is arguably the most underrated player in the country. “There were key plays, a ton of ’em”, Self added. A good example of this was Hield being so exhausted that he simply stood in the corner for the final two OU possessions in the second overtime – which resulted in people asking the Sooners to have him run off screens. Another Oklahoma forward, sophomore Khadeem Lattin, also had a double-double with 10 points and 14 boards.
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Then on an inbounds play with 11 seconds left, Hield had his pass deflected and stolen.
The Jayhawks return most of their core from last season, led by high-scoring guard Wayne Selden and steady Perry Ellis, making them one of Bill Self’s most experienced teams.
Fortunately, the players covered over a multitude of sins by the officials. It was a game that went down to the final seconds four separate times. And then there was Hield. Player of the Year candidate Buddy Hield tossed up 46 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists in defeat. He played 54 out of 55 minutes.
Texas Tech is vastly improved, and Baylor should be an NCAA tourney team. “I’m just happy I made the free throws and was able to get a deflection and make the free throws at the end”.
For the love of everything holy in college basketball, Batman.
More incredible than his raw stats are his tempo-free numbers. Oklahoma is 12-0 on the year, 2-0 on the road and 6-4 against the spread. “Identifying shooters and getting to them quick has got to get better”.
The hot-shooting Sooners head to Allen Fieldhouse for an early-season matchup that could have repercussions all the way to March. Those rankings depended on which poll you were looking at yesterday as the USA Today Coaches Poll and BCSNN / USBWA Polls had the Sooners as the top-ranked team.
Kansas (12-1, 1st) has been dominant since a 79-73 loss to Michigan State back in mid-November.
Arizona 57, Cal 52: Kristine Anigwe had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Courtney Range scored 18 points, but they couldn’t keep the No. 21 Bears (9-4, 0-2 Pac-12) from losing to the Wildcats (10-4, 1-1) in Tucson.
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The Jayhawks have all the right pieces in place to succeed in the Big 12 and in the Big Dance. The fifth overtime game between top-2 teams featured 13 ties, 13 lead changes, and both teams rallying from deficits of 10 points or more in front of a raucous KU crowd. “When you have a passionate fan base like we have [at Kansas, and at Maryland], it helps you win games you’re not supposed to win”. Diallo especially should improve as the season wears on, which means Kansas may not even have hit its stride yet. There will be a highly anticipated rematch in Norman and Hield says he already can’t wait for it.
