OU Basketball on Rebound: Sooners' Season Stays South
Just when you thought as a fan of OU basketball that the Sooners’ season couldn’t get much worse, it just did.
Jan 28, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) drives to the basket in front of Oklahoma Sooners guard Jordan Shepherd (13) during the first half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Forget all the talk about how tough the Sooners are when playing at home and how a bit of Sooner Magic is built into the Lloyd Noble Center, where the OU men had lost just five times in the last three seasons before this one.
None of that bothered the No. 25 Florida Gators, the first nonconference top-25 team Oklahoma has hosted at the LNC in the five-plus seasons that Lon Kruger has been at OU. Florida had its way with the young Sooners on Saturday, handing Oklahoma its worse loss of the season in an 84-52 runaway.
It has not been a pretty season for OU men’s basketball, to say the least, but the Sooners performance against Florida in this year’s fourth annual Big 12-SEC Basketball Challenge was easily their worst of the season.
The loss, OU’s ninth in its last 11 games, left the Sooners with an 8-12 record and in danger of falling into undisputed ownership of the conferences worst season record in 2016-17.
Oklahoma helped out the Florida defensive effort with a pathetic shooting game. The Sooners managed just 18 field goals on 65 shots from the floor for a pathetic 27.7 percent scoring effort.
The Sooners’ leading scoring on the season, senior Jordan Woodard missed all seven of his field- goal tries and went scoreless for the game. This coming after a two-point performance in a loss at Texas earlier in the week.
Jan 28, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Kameron McGusty (20) shoots the ball in front of Florida Gators forward Kevarrius Hayes (13) during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
When your team leader and top scorer is not contributing, it’s the same as if he is not playing. Oklahoma lost all four of the games that Woodard was forced to sit out this season with an injury and an undisclosed illness.
Sooner freshmen Kameron McGusty and Kristian Doolittle combined for 50 points against Texas, but tallied just 18 points total against Florida. Rashard Odomes paced the Oklahoma scoring with 13 points.
The Gators were led in the scoring column by an unheralded hero in Kevarrius Hayes, who fired in a career-high 20 points. Canyon Barry, the youngest son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry added 15.
Florida was better than OU in just about every phase of the game on Saturday. The Gators shot 43 percent for the game and made nine more field goals than the Sooners (27 to 18). Florida also outrebounded Oklahoma 50-39 and had much better ball movement, which contributed to a 16-4 advantage in assists.
The Gators, now 16-5 this season, were coming off a game with LSU earlier in the week in which they scored a season-best 106 points, including an SEC-record 19 three-pointers. They were nearly as hot from long range against the Sooners, but still made 8 of 21 three balls on Saturday.
Oklahoma was one of the best teams in the nation a year ago from behind the three-point arc, but Saturday’s 1 for 16 effort from long range was representative of the inconsistency the Sooner squad has shown all season in its perimeter shooting.
There is very little positive to build on from the Florida game, and very little time to get it out of their system as the Sooners hit the hardwood again on Monday in round one of Bedlam basketball, hosting in-state rival Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys will be coming to Norman with a much different mental state than their hosts. Oklahoma State obliterated Arkansas 99-71, scoring 59 points in the first half alone.
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