Texas Basketball: Longhorns hold off Oklahoma Sooners in overtime

Although it was never the prettiest, Texas Basketball gets another win in Big 12 play, this time over rival Oklahoma. Here are two keys to the win.

Over a month after No. 20 Texas Basketball defeated Oklahoma 66-52 in Austin, the Longhorns headed north to Norman to try and sweep the Red River Rivalry. In the previous matchup, Andrew Jones went off for a season-high 22 points and four steals to help lead Texas to the first win in Austin. Jones was the x-factor in that win and a huge contributor to last night’s 80-79 Overtime win.

Playing in Norman is never easy regardless of if Oklahoma is ranked or not. Whenever a team comes to town it’ll always be a fight. Last night’s win was no exception. Here are the takeaways from the thriller between the Longhorns and the Sooners.

1. UT’s starters dominated

With the exception of Courtney Ramey, who only finished with one point, the other four starters put on a scoring frenzy. In fact, the scoring numbers were identical in pairs. Timmy Allen and Andrew Jones both had 20 points and Christian Bishop and Marcus Carr had 16 points.

The accuracy of their shooting was probably the most impressive part of the scoring. They averaged 18 points on 61.8% shooting combined. Without their shooting efficiency, this game could’ve gone horribly for the Longhorns.

The stat line for those four are as followed:

1. Allen: 20 points, four rebounds (all offensive), and two steals.
2. Jones: 20 points and seven rebounds.
3. Bishop: 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.
4. Carr: 16 points and two rebounds

Of course, shooting and scoring are integral parts but teams can’t win without rebounding, forcing steals and winning the turnover battle are key to keeping games close and hopefully getting wins.

2. Texas’ defense was stellar

Like I said above, in order to keep games close and coming out with the win, you have to be aggressive on defense and win the rebounding game. Texas didn’t have the advantage in rebounds. Oklahoma out-rebound UT 32-30 but Texas won the steals battle.

Texas picked Oklahoma’s pocket seven times compared to the Sooners’ six. UT won the block battle as well, sending back three shots compared to OU’s two. Texas won the turnover battle, only turning the ball over nine times compared to Oklahoma’s 12.

Clutch defense allowed OU’s last-second shot in the fourth quarter to miss and head to overtime. It was a tailrace to the end of overtime. When the Sooners threatened, the Longhorns responded with an extremely elevated defensive intensity.

When facing a huge rival like Oklahoma especially in enemy territory, defensive intensity and not lightening up is crucial to coming out with a win. UT displayed stellar defense until the end which helped guide them to the intense finish and win.