OU basketball with a stunning, backbreaking defeat, 80-78

That’s the type of loss that is going to sting for OU. It’s the type of defeat you simply cannot have at home in the conference against outmanned team.

But it happened. Now? It’s going to be up to head coach Porter Moser to rally the troops and get things going.

It’s rough right now as OU blows an 18-point lead in the second half to fall 80-78 in the final seconds to visiting Texas A&M on Wednesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners were up 51-33, 70-59 when things just cratered. Turnovers have not been a point of concern all season. This night, though, OU could not take care of the ball.

It wasn’t just one player, either. Four players had at least three turnovers. OU had 18 for the game that A&M converted into 30 points.

OU rallied from a 77-72 deficit to take a 78-77 lead, but Zhuric Phelps hit one last dagger 3-pointer to give A&M the lead. Playing without their star player (Wade Taylor IV), Phelps delivered 34 points of his own.

You gotta hold serve at home and steal some on the road. Right now? OU is 0-2 in that department.

“That was the storyline,” Moser said. “They had 30 points off turnovers. We get a lead and then we just have some — we came out of a timeout and just threw a one-handed interception. And they did a great job. They turned all the turnovers into points. That’s the storyline, the 18 turnovers. We had 21 assists. When we did get the ball moving and popping, I thought we did some great things. But when we went too deep, they’re elite at just digging and breaking, getting their hands on it.

“As tough as tough losses can come, was that one. Having a lead. I thought you saw two amazing shooting performances. I thought Brycen Goodine was as on a heater, as much as you can get on a heater, and I thought Phelps, just with their All-American out, man did he step up. They had one 3 at half and eight in the second. That’s another thing. The eight 3s in the second half for them.

“They’re extremely tough. With Wade Taylor out, they were big and they were really, really big. We couldn’t go to our small lineup cause when we did, they were just physically taking us. They had great physicality, great big plays, relentlessness by them. I thought we did, too. I thought we made a lot of relentless plays. 

“Just a disappointing loss to come up short. The storyline is the turnovers. You’re right, that hasn’t been an issue all year. It came out tonight against an elite, physical defensive team.”

Game No. 15 OU Takeaways

*The loss spoiled an unbelievable performance from Brycen Goodine. He was sensational all evening, scoring 34 points.

He hit six 3-pointers in the first half. Came back and drained three more in the second half. He shot 9-for-11 from distance.

“It’s tough to have a performance like that and lose is the honest answer,” Moser said. “I thought he was unbelievable. He looked healthy. If you remember the first game of the season, he had like 9 or 11 in the first half. Then he missed time.

“He looked healthy, confident, quick. It’s tough to have a performance like that and lose. So you look and there has to be a stat line as to the reason why. That 30 points off turnovers is tough to offset that. Brycen had as hot, heat-up performance from three. I don’t know if he hit the rim. It’s a shame it went in vain in a loss.”

It truly felt like it was going to be The Goodine Night that would carry the day. He also had three steals.

*Jeremiah Fears had 13 points, and Jalon Moore added 11. But the uncharacteristic turnovers were the story of this one.

Up next

Back to the road. This one of those road games where you feel like OU (13-2, 0-2) can get one, stash one in the bank. But it won’t be easy. And you have to wonder where their minds are at this moment. OU heads to Georgia (13-2, 1-1). The Bulldogs are coming off their best win of the season, taking down Kentucky on Tuesday.