Oklahoma
Hawkeyes Fall to Oklahoma at Rady’s Children’s Invitational
SAN DIEGO – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to Oklahoma,79-67, on Thursday afternoon in the opening game of the Rady Children’s Invitational. The Hawkeyes will face either Seton Hall or USC on Friday at 5 p.m. (CT).
Freshman Owen Freeman was a highlight for Iowa’s offense. The Moline, Illinois, native showed off a variety of post moves to score a team-high 13 points. He also tied for the team high with seven rebounds.
Junior Payton Sandfort was Iowa’s second-leading scorer, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds and graduate Ben Krikke scored 11.
The Hawkeyes struggled offensively, making 24-of-67 field goal attempts, including just 4-of-23 from 3-point range. Iowa’s first 3-pointer came from freshman Brock Harding at the 12:44 mark of the second half. Harding made a team-high two 3-pointers.
Iowa struggled out of the gates, making 10-of-34 field goals and going 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half. Oklahoma led 36-24 at the break.
Despite a Hawkeye push in the second half, Iowa was unable to cut into the Oklahoma lead. The Sooners made just 4-of-20 3-point field goals themselves, but Oklahoma made 48.4 percent of its overall field goal attempts, making 31-of-64 attempts.
The Sooners’ Jalon Moore led a group of four players in double digits, scoring a game-high 18 points.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“We had some really good shots. I do think we forced a couple. For the most part, I thought that we had good looks at it. It’s rare that we are going to be 1-of-20 at some point from three. We recognize one that [Oklahoma] is a really good rebounding team and two we were not making our shots at a percentage we normally do. So, we get 18 offensive rebounds, we out rebounded them, so that gave us a chance. It was clearly a struggle offensively all day long.”
“I thought all the young guys played well. I thought Dix was really good. Pryce was good. Pryce missed a couple in the first half that he would like to have back. It was good to see him make that one there at the end. But I thought those guys, collectively were good defensively. They battled on the glass, they executed our stuff, and they gave us a big lift in both halves.”
“I think more a lack of connectiveness on defense than there was offensively. We were running motion, I thought we were getting it to the rim early, we got open shots. We didn’t make them, and the lead obviously stretched a little bit. When your offense isn’t clicking your defense has to be locked in. We were battling on the glass big time. I’m really proud of that. But off the dribble, a few of the post ups, and a few of the drive and kicks, that gave us some problems.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- Three Hawkeyes landed in double figures – Owen Freeman (13), Payton Sandfort (12) and Ben Krikke (11)
- Freeman led the team, making 5-of-10 field goals for his second career game in double figures. He also had a career-high seven rebounds.
- The 13 points are the most by a Hawkeye freshman since the 2021-22 season. (Payton Sandfort, 21)
- Krikke scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. He has been in double figure in all five games.
- Sandfort made 5-of-10 field goals, landing in double figures for the fourth time in five games. He also tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
- Iowa finished +9 on the glass, outrebounding OU, 44-35.
- The Hawkeyes went 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 4-of-23 from long range in the game.
- Iowa didn’t connect on its first 3-pointer until the 12:44 mark in the second half.
- Iowa committed a season-high 14 turnovers in the game. It was the first time this season the team has had more than seven turnovers.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to action Friday, facing the loser of the Seton Hall/USC game at 5 p.m. (CT) in the consolation game of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego. The game will be televised on FOX.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State’s Star WR Might be Most Difficult to Replace
Oklahoma State has plenty of talent to replace next season, but no one will be more difficult to replace than its star receiver.
Over the past few years, no one has embodied the OSU program better than Brennan Presley. Since he stepped on the field for the first time in 2020, he has been a symbol of consistency for the Pokes.
Although he has played significant roles on a couple of OSU teams that made the Big 12 Championship, he had no issues staying focused throughout the three-win campaign in 2024. In a season where it was easy to find the negatives in just about everything the Cowboys did, Presley remained a bright spot. Entering the season on the Biletnikoff watch list, Presley finished his final collegiate season with 90 catches for 767 yards and seven touchdowns.
The reason Presley will be so difficult to replace is not only because of his impressive numbers each season but also because of how consistent he has been at putting those numbers up.
His consistency led to him breaking the Cowboys’ all-time receptions record in 2024, becoming the first player to cross the 300-catch mark in an OSU uniform by ending his career with 315.
Without Presley out there to be a reliable target next season, there will be some growing pains for whoever suits up under center. Along with always being available for a pass, Presley could be used in a variety of ways.
While it wasn’t his best ability, Presley was also occasionally used as a rusher throughout his career. He ended his OSU tenure with 30 rush attempts for 160 yards and six touchdowns, with most of his carries used as a wrinkle near the goal line.
Of course, the five-year Cowboy was well-known for his ability to return on special teams. His most notable was a kickoff return touchdown in Bedlam in 2021, and 1,667 kick and punt return yards helped him break 5,000 career all-purpose yards.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma 8-year-old girl missing, father dead after SUV crash in Texas flood
An 8-year-old Oklahoma girl is still missing in Texas after floodwaters carried away the family SUV on Christmas Eve.
According to local reports in Sherman, Texas, the SUV ran off the road into a drainage ditch before succumbing to the flood. The Sherman Police Department said six people were inside the vehicle when it crashed.
Four family members were rescued. CBS News reported that the missing girl’s father, Will Robinson, did not survive. Robinson was a coach for the Durant High School Lady Lions basketball team.
By the afternoon of Christmas Day, searchers had covered seven miles of creek in the area without success.
“We are shifting our focus into the county, targeting some possible locations where we have not looked to as yet,” the department wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “Our search will continue until dark today, then we will resume searching again (Thursday) before daylight.”
Oklahoma
Oklahoma 111-65 Omaha (Dec 22, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN
NORMAN, Okla. — — Raegan Beers matched a career high with 28 points, and No. 10 Oklahoma rolled past Omaha 111-65 on Sunday.
Beers, a 6-foot-4 center, made 11 of 13 field goals and grabbed nine rebounds to help Oklahoma win its fifth straight since an overtime loss to Duke.
Skylar Vann had 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Kiersten Johnson added 12 points for the Sooners (11-1). Oklahoma scored at least 100 points for the third time this season after entering the day ranked fourth nationally with 90.7 points per game.
Ja Harvey scored 21 points and Cora Olsen added 15 for Omaha. The Mavericks (8-5) had won seven straight since a 79-77 loss to Wisconsin, but gave up a season-high point total against the Sooners.
Oklahoma led 52-34 at halftime, with Beers producing 15 points and six rebounds.
The Sooners exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 35-25 to take an 87-59 lead. It matched the most points Oklahoma has scored in a quarter this season. The Sooners made 14 field goals and five 3-pointers in the period.
Omaha: Aside from Harvey, none of the Mavericks could get going. Harvey made 8 of 14 field goals while the rest of the team made 15 of 52.
Oklahoma: The Sooners continued to bully opponents in the paint and beat them with pace. They outrebounded the Mavericks 57-33 and forced 20 turnovers.
Oklahoma set the tone from the beginning by scoring the game’s first eight points. The Sooners led 26-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Omaha made just 2 of 21 3-pointers while Oklahoma made 13 of 35.
Omaha hosts North Dakota on Jan. 2. Oklahoma hosts New Mexico State on Dec. 29.
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