Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

No. 21 Oklahoma handles Baylor, snapping two-game skid

kruger

In road losses to Iowa State and West Virginia offense proved to be an issue for No. 21 Oklahoma despite the fact that they scored 75 points against the Cyclones and 86 against the Mountaineers. In both games the Sooners, a team with multiple scoring options, shot 40.6% from the field and they struggled from beyond the arc as well.

Against Iowa State, Oklahoma shot 8-for-26 from beyond the arc and they were even worse against West Virginia as they made just five of their 19 attempts in the overtime loss. So the task against a struggling Baylor team was simple: make more shots. And against a team currently ranked seventh in the Big 12 in defensive efficiency and ninth in field goal percentage defense (conference games only), the Sooners got back on the right track.

Oklahoma shot 53% from the field and made 14 of its 29 shots from beyond the arc and committed just eight turnovers, beating the Bears 88-72 in Norman. Isaiah Cousins led three Sooners in double figures with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, and Oklahoma got many of the looks it wanted against the Bears. Buddy Hield, who started off the game red-hot, finished with 19 points and Cameron Clark added 16 for Lon Kruger’s team.

Obviously offense will be a key for Oklahoma moving forward, and with options such as Clark, Cousins, Hield and Jordan Woodard the Sooners have the talent needed to go basket for basket with many teams. But there’s another player whose importance should not be understated, and he didn’t score a single point against Baylor. That would be power forward Ryan Spangler, who is the one interior player who can match up with some of the more physical big men of the Big 12.

Spangler, a transfer from Gonzaga, entered Saturday averaging 11.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest and accounted for six rebounds and five assists against Baylor. The failure to score is an outlier for Spangler, who’s posted nine double-doubles this season. And if Oklahoma is to be successful in March Spangler will have to be effective inside, especially when considering the desire to use Clark at the four and thereby force opposing fours to match up on the perimeter.

While he didn’t score against Baylor, Spangler was solid defensively against Cory Jefferson (eight points, four rebounds). Oklahoma snapped out its two-game offensive funk on Saturday evening and that’s certainly a positive moving forward. But the way in which they deal with teams that possess physical front court talent will also be important.

Follow @raphiellej