The Oklahoma Sooners bounced back in a big way on Tuesday. They defeated Kansas State by 20 points in a big 73-53 victory to bounce back from two straight losses.
Still, the Sooners are feeling the repercussions from those losses. They went from the No. 11 team in the country to the No. 23 team in the country after losing two straight games — those coming at the hands of the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Had the Sooners lost to Kansas State, they would have fallen out of the AP Top 25 after threatening a top-ten ranking just a couple of weeks ago. Still, the Sooners remained ranked as one of eight Big 12 teams actively ranked across the country. They’re the seventh-highest ranked Big 12 team, just ahead of TCU and just behind BYU.
Three of the Sooners’ next five matchups come against ranked opponents, and one of those will be on the road. It’ll be a huge stretch for the Sooners to prove themselves, as they are 4-4 in Big 12 play and are two games behind the top of the conference.
Before bouncing back with a win against Kansas State, Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser had a list of what his team needed to do to turn things around.
“Our defense needs to be way better in the last 5-6 minutes of the game,” Moser said on Monday. “You’ve got to get stops. You’re not necessarily having to score every possession, but if you’ve got a seven point lead or a nine point lead you’ve got to get a majority of stops. We didn’t get stops [against Texas Tech].”
Being able to close games in the best conference in basketball is important. No lead is safe late in a game, no matter the opponent, and being able to finish games matters tremendously when it comes to the standings.
“Let’s find solutions together,” Moser said. “Accountability is a form of love… I want them to know ‘man, he’s for me. I’m in this.’ And that’s what some of the message is. Let’s figure this out together.”
It’ll be interesting to see Oklahoma establish themselves over their next stretch of games, which will be no slouch. They can really make some noise if all goes right for them.
READ MORE: Former OU Basketball Head Coach Speaks on the Sooners’ Rivalry With Texas
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