Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from a Red River runaway

Texas made it a two-game sweep of the Oklahoma basketball men, shooting over 60 percent for the game, in a 94-80 stampede over the Sooners in Austin in the Big 12 regular-season finale for both teams.

The Longhorns broke up a five-point game at halftime and completely throttled Oklahoma in the second half, outscoring the Sooners 54-45 over the final 20 minutes and totally dominating OU in the second stanza.

Former Iowa State player Tyrese Hunter scored a season-high 30 points in the leading the offensive barrage for Texas. The Longhorns scored on nine of their first 11 shots to open the second half and with just under nine minutes remaining in the game had opened up a 21-point, 72-51 advantage.

Texas turned Oklahoma shot misses and turnovers into repeated fastbreak points and was able to get to the rim virtually at will. The Longhorns went to the foul line 23 times in the game and made 22.

Dylan Disu of the Longhorns had the hot hand early, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first half. Dillon Mitchell contributed 14. Rivaldo Soares led Oklahoma with a season-high 21. Soares has averaged 16.0 points in his last five games.

Jalon Moore had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Sooners. Javian McCollum was back in the starting lineup for OU after missing the last game against Cincinnati with a shoulder injury. McCollum had just five points in 26 minutes. His shoulder was obviously still bothering him.

Texas shot 63.5 percent from the field for the game. That is 21 percent higher than Oklahoma’s season average for opponents’ field-goal percentage defense. It was also the best shooting game by the Longhorns all season.

“You’re never excited to play against Oklahoma,” Texas head coach said after Saturday’s blowout home win on Senior Day at Texas. “They’re a well-coached team, a hard-playing team. They don’t beat themselves, you have to beat Oklahoma.”

Well, the Longhorns took all doubt out of the equation on Saturday. Texas now owns a seven-game win streak over the Sooners.

To add insult to injury for the Sooners, Soares, who has just recently worked his way into the starting lineup, had to be helped off the floor after apparently suffering an ankle injury late in the game. His potential loss to OU going forward could turn out to be a bigger loss than the outcome of this game.

Oklahoma ends the regular season with an overall record of 20-11 and 8-10 in conference play.

Oklahoma now heads into the Big 12 Championship next week, likely as a nine seed, where they could potentially play Texas again. The Sooners’ actual opponent won’t be determined, however, until the end of conference play on Saturday.