Oklahoma will nearly certainly lose the top spot when the newest rankings are released, but Buddy Hield, the nation’s second-leading scorer, and Co. will be looking to avoid a two-game slide.
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The 13th-ranked Bears had their 15-game home streak snapped, and were joined atop the Big 12 standings after an 82-72 loss Saturday that wasn’t really that close. Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Oklahoma 19 (Hield 8), Baylor 34 (Gathers 11). They made a strong case to stay at No. 1 despite that loss with an all-around team effort.
Baylor went up after McClure scored the first seven points of a 12-0 run midway through the first half.
Forced to the bench for much of the first half, all Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield could do was hope that his teammates could keep the No. 1 Sooners close enough to give him a chance to take over in the second. DU will take on No. 2 Lindsay Wilson (Ky.), No. 8 Campbellsville (Ky.) and No. 10 Saint Xavier (Ill.) as a part of their non-conference schedule that will have the Panthers take on five ranked teams and three opponents from the NCAA DII level.
Oklahoma shot 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) from behind the 3-point line Saturday. In the Sooners’ last two games, they have made 33 3-pointers. “That’s a big-time number”. “Guys spend a lot of time shooting and like passing it to each other”.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 12-6 lead and did not allow another point in the first quarter to build a 24-point lead. His improved offensive game, as well as Isaiah Cousin’s regained confidence, will make OU a hard team to stop in the Big 12, and they’ve already knocked out three tough road trips (Kansas, Iowa State and Baylor) with a lot of basketball left to play before March. Oklahoma was the first No. 1 team to visit Waco since Kansas on January 11, 1997. The last visiting team to score more had been Northwestern State in a 91-84 overtime victory on December 18, 2013….
North Carolina has fewer quality wins and its two losses against Northern Iowa and Texas aren’t almost the caliber of Oklahoma’s.
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Zone defense may be the signature of Baylor coach Scott Drew, but Oklahoma demonstrated that it has far too many lethal shooters and willing passers for that to be effective.
