OU Basketball: Oklahoma Drops Big 12 Heartbreaker to Iowa State

NORMAN — Oklahoma as soon as once more suffered one other intestine punch within the closing minute of a Huge 12 contest Wednesday evening.

Internet hosting the No. 25-ranked Iowa State Cyclones, the Sooners have been introduced with loads of alternatives to win the sport late, however finally fell 63-60 on the Lloyd Noble Middle.

“In my head I hold echoing,” OU coach Porter Moser mentioned after the sport. “I point out the phrase inches, I am listening to Al Pacino speak about discovering that inch. Two video games in a row we have to search out an inch.

“… I can simply hear, ‘you have to discover that inch.’ That is what we have to maintain pushing for that inch. We have got to maintain pushing.”

Neither group led by greater than 5 factors in your entire second half, and the competition went all the way down to the wire.

Freshman Milos Uzan drew the sport degree with 1:03 left on the clock.

With 4 seconds left on the shot clock, Uzan labored to his left, kissing a pull-up jumper off the glass to narrowly beat the buzzer and knot the competition up at 56-56.

Tamin Lipsey put the Cyclones again up by two with a fast bucket on the opposite finish, however Bijan Cortes once more pulled the sport sq. for the Sooners with a runner after driving to his proper.

On the opposite finish, Lipsey drained a triple to place Iowa State up 61-58 with 33 seconds left, heaping the strain again on Oklahoma.

After a disjoint possession, Uzan was once more left alone on the high of the arc, however he missed his try from deep.

OU ahead Jalen Hill was there to tip the ball in, nonetheless, pulling the Sooner inside a degree with 16 seconds left.

On the following inbounds play, Iowa State guard Caleb Grill clattered to the ground and spilled the ball out of bounds, giving OU 7.5 seconds to win the sport.

However the Sooners flubbed their likelihood to get the ball in play as effectively.

Hill sealed his man within the lane, however Cortes was unable to loft the ball excessive and into Hill’s palms to put the ball in and take the lead.

“They put their 6-10 child with 7-4 wingspan on the ball,” Moser mentioned. “… Very laborious for Bijan to see it. I informed Bijan, ‘that is not your fault.’ We had no timeouts. Very laborious to see.

“… Jalen normally comes up with these.”

Hill took duty for the play, sustaining it was his job to come back down with the ball.

“ I’ve obtained to come back down with the ball and discover a approach to get the ball and simply get a bucket at that time or get fouled,” he mentioned. “… That’s all on me.”

Osun Osunniyi sunk a pair of free throws to ice the sport for the Cyclones with 5 seconds left, as Tanner Groves’ desperation 3-pointer on the buzzer landed off the mark.

The gut-wrenching loss was setup by a large first half comeback

Oklahoma’s evening seemed executed a fast eight and a half minutes into Wednesday evening’s Huge 12 battle.

Guard Grant Sherfield checked out of the sport with a pair of fouls with the guests up 19-5.

However underclassmen guards Bijan Cortes, C.J. Noland and Uzan got here alive to steer a ferocious comeback.

The trio mixed to attain 13 factors to assist the Sooners storm on a 20-0 run, erasing an 18-point deficit to enter halftime tied 29-29.

“I believed the primary half was a story of two tales,” Moser mentioned. “It was a narrative of 1 group defended as poor as a group that I’ve seen defend. After which we made some subs and we had some vitality after which we flipped it, went on a 20-0 run.

“We obtained the ball out, the ball was transferring. And I believed they confirmed super resiliency being down 17 to battle. So I like the battle in our group.”

Cortes particularly was efficient, serving to the Sooners provoke the offense with Sherfield on the bench.

“I got here on the market simply form of ready. Simply making an attempt to win,” he mentioned. “Convey no matter I can to the desk to protection, offense, passing the ball. Simply entering into there being aggressive and doing the precise factor.”

Out of the intermission, Oklahoma allowed Iowa State to construct a fast five-point lead, which means the Sooners needed to play catch up nearly your entire half.

Jalen Hill and Tanner Groves carried many of the offensive weight for OU within the defensive grind, combining to attain 20 of the group’s 31 factors within the second half.

Permitting essential offensive rebounds once more proved to be the distinction for Oklahoma.

The Cyclones pulled down 10 offensive boards, resetting and changing these alternatives into 14 second likelihood pointes on the evening, dwarfing OU’s 4 second likelihood factors.

Honing in on these particulars once more proved to be the distinction, and it’s one thing the Sooners have to show round to get on the precise facet of the end in Huge 12 play.

“Within the second half, towards the top of the stretch, I feel we (gave up) just a little offensive rebound,” Cortes mentioned. “We have been taking part in nice D. It is simply little issues, making an attempt to shrink these little errors and making an attempt to study from these.

“Simply staying aggressive the entire recreation and letting go of one thing we all know we are able to win.”

Oklahoma will now hit the highway for the primary time in Huge 12 play this season.

The Sooners will head to Lubbock on Saturday to tackle the Texas Tech Purple Raiders at 6 p.m., and the sport can be broadcast on ESPN+.

Need to be part of the dialogue? Click on right here to turn out to be a member of the AllSooners message board group at the moment!

Join on your premium membership to AllSooners.com at the moment, and get entry to your entire Fan Nation premium community!

Follow AllSooners on Twitter to remain updated on all the newest OU information.

Get your OU tickets from SI Tickets HERE.