Sunday, January 08, 2006

Ugly Ball Not Working for Sooners


Nothing comes easy for the Sooners in men’s basketball, and that’s the problem! For a team that was touted top 5 in the country at the beginning of the season some things, like scoring, should come naturally. I’m not saying that every basket should be a lay up but they should at least look like they know what they are trying to do on offense and stupid turnovers are becoming more frequent.

The Sooners latest offense slump came in the last 3:38 of their 59-58 loss to Nebraska on Saturday in which they failed to make a field goal.

Nebraska trailed 56-50 after Longar Longar dunked for the Sooners. After two free throws by Godbold made it 58-53, Nebraska’s Charles Richardson hit a clutch 3-pointer with 23 seconds left, and then came the stupid turnover part.

With the Sooners trying to protect a two-point lead with just a few seconds left, Terrell Everett succumbed to Nebraska's pressure defense and threw a pass right to the Cornhuskers' Wes Wilkinson in the Oklahoma end.

That set up Joe McCray, who hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 5.2 seconds left to give Nebraska a 59-58 victory over the 12th-ranked Sooners.

"It slipped," Everett said. "I was pump-faking, and it came out of my hand."
I’ll take OU’s defense over just about any team in the country but the offense is struggling and that cost them this game. This is the kind of game that the Sooners will look back on in late February and wish they could get back.