OU falls to the Jayhawks late

Depending on which half you watched you could feel one of two ways about this game. The first half the Jayhawks looked like they weren't going to miss the entire game and Oklahoma forgot to bring their shoes to the rocking Allen Field house.

The second half looked like Kansas players started worrying about their homework due the next day and Oklahoma thought coach Kruger was going to make them walk home if they didn't get things turned around, and boy did they.

Kansas went in the the halftime break with all the momentum and a 19 point lead. Kansas hit their first 8 three point attempts in a row and finished the first half 9-14 from deep. Kansas's offense was hitting on all cylinders and seemed to be a long way from slowing down. The Sooners were doing anything they could to scrape up buckets and try to hang in but it seemed to not be their night.

When the Sooners took the court in the second half, or more so when Buddy Hield took the court, things turned around. The Sooners made a run behind the hot shooting of Hield and tough defense. Oklahoma held the Jayhawks to just 1 of 6 from deep in the second half and 34 points in the second half.

The defense was stout and the offense was clicking, OU took a 71-70 lead with only 4 minutes left in the game. Kansas freshman Kelly Oubre made some big plays down the stretch to help close the game for the Jayhawks and soon enough the Sooner come back was over.

There are some positives however the Sooner nation can take from this game. Yes, this is the Sooner's 3rd loss in conference play but the Sooners showed something they were really lacking in the last two conference losses. Fight, grit, and heart. Oklahoma had every reason to lay down to the Allen Field house magic but chose to stand up and fight back.

Hield led the charge scoring his season high 26 points and was for the 5th time in a row the Sooner's leading scorer. That shows the Sooner offense is finding some consistent flow which they had been lacking in the early stages in the season. Hield looks to be the scoring punch the Sooner's have been looking for awhile.

The young sophmore point guard Jordan Woodard played 38 minutes and handled the ball for most of the Oklahoma possessions. He managed to finish the game with only 1 turnover and that coming early in the first half when the OU offense was struggling. Woodard playing that well against a well coach team like Kansas is preaches a lot about the potential about the young man and his potential growth through out the season.

One member of the Sooner Nation however did struggle in the game. TeShawn Thomas the 6'8 transfer from Houston saw 25 minutes on the court but only managed to shoot 1-7 for the game. The big man did however snag 4 rebounds and send back 3 shots from the Jayhawk offense. He did however lead the team with 6 turnovers and nothing just seemed to be clicking for his om the offensive end.

It would be hard for someone to argue that Sooner's wouldn't of won if they had what they have grown to expect from their veteran Power Forward. That is however neither here nor there, what we do know is exactly what Kansas coach Bill Self said after the game. In a post game interview he was quoted saying

"OU could beat anybody when they play like that in the second half, their GOOD."

Self is exactly right, the Sooners are GOOD. They just need to be able to put it all together in one game to compete against the best teams in nation come March. We saw though the second half, they can.