DALLAS — Lon Kruger wouldn't do this in January, with a spot in the Big 12 standings at stake. Early in the season, though, it was time to play mad scientist and experiment.
Facing a 16-point, first-half deficit, Kruger didn't bother panicking or using a timeout. He wanted to learn about his team.
"Dug ourselves a little hole," he said.
How would a team with six sophomores or freshmen in the rotation react? Who would assume leadership roles?
Kruger liked what he learned over the final 30 minutes of an 82-73 win over Alabama on Friday at the American Airlines Center.
The Sooners rallied with a 22-5 run to take a 32-31 lead and were within one at halftime.
"It was good for us," Kruger said. "Not that you want to be in that situation, but it's kind of interesting to see how guys handle that amongst themselves when you do get there."
As for leaders, sophomores Buddy Hield and Ryan Spangler filled the role, speaking up and settling the Sooners after the choppy start. Hield scored a team-high 19 points and Ryan Spangler logged a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
"What he did today's not going to be unusual," Kruger said of Spangler, who went 7-of-11 from the field and added two steals.
The sophomore impressed in his debut after transferring from Gonzaga and sitting out the NCAA-mandated redshirt season.
"It feels great," Spangler said. "It was well worth it, sitting out a year and working on my game, and obviously, showing it right now. Hopefully I can keep doing it."
Alabama coach Anthony Grant's first-half gamble backfired when All-SEC first-teamer Trevor Releford picked up his third foul when Alabama still led by eight with nine minutes left in the first half, offering a dip in the degree of difficulty for the Sooners' early comeback. He played just 22 minutes for the Crimson Tide.
A renewed Oklahoma defense combined with Releford's exit slowed an Alabama attack that built a 26-10 lead on easy buckets inside created by penetration from Releford, Retin Obasohan and Algie Key. Key and Obasohan combined for 34 points on 13-of-18 shooting.
"They opened the ballgame and drove it at us," Kruger said. "We want to do that to other people, we don't want them doing it to us. They won that battle right off the bat. They set the tone. They were bigger, stronger and faster."
Kruger wasn't on his feet much during the first half. He didn't lose his jacket, or his mind, with a young team trying to find its way early in a season. He sat and watched, and learned his young team has an ability to look like one with far more experience than it possesses on paper.
"I didn't know we were down that much," Hield said. "I looked at the score and I was like ‘Wow, we gotta pick it up.'"
Maybe come January, letting his team play out of an early deficit won't be quite the gamble it was on Friday.
"The results kind of speak for themselves," Kruger said.
