Beaten in the season opener and not at all happy about it, Oklahoma looks to rebound against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday night in Norman, Okla.
Despite leading by 14 with under 10 minutes to play and still up by 10 with 4:52 left, the Sooners (0-1) fell 52-51 to underdog Sam Houston on Monday. The visitors capped their comeback with a game-winning 3-pointer with four seconds left.
Similar drama arose on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, where Arkansas-Pine Bluff led No. 14 TCU most of the way before falling 73-72.
Oklahoma’s faults weren’t hard to document, starting with 21 turnovers and giving up 11 offensive rebounds, said coach Porter Moser.
“That’s 32 possessions in a one-point game,” Moser said. “We missed a bunch of layups early, a bunch of 3s that were makeable 3s. … But that’s not what got us beat. What got us beat is our defense the last four minutes. They scored seven of their last eight possessions. We gave them hope.”
Nine turnovers came from Grant Sherfield (five) and C.J. Noland (four).
His team got the message, Moser told The Oklahoman on Wednesday.
“They were upset. They were hungry. Mad, hungry and receptive. Receptive to what we talked about,” Moser said.
Sherfield, a transfer from Nevada, led the Sooners with 14 points in his Oklahoma debut.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1) quickly jumped on top of TCU, building a 20-point lead midway through the first half. Shaun Doss Jr. scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the half.
The Golden Lions led 70-66 with less than two minutes to play but missed four of their last five shots as the Horned Frogs rallied.
“We aren’t satisfied. We don’t like the moral victories; we want the win,” second-year coach Solomon Bozeman said, per the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “If we look at the positives, we played a team ranked No. 14 that had a veteran return of 92 percent scoring last year.”
A busy early schedule is limiting Bozeman’s practice time. The Golden Lions routed Champion Christian College 87-55 on Wednesday night. Doss again led the way with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
–Field Level Media
