The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IT WAS a bittersweet weekend for several Bahamian players in NCAA basketball with a major injury for one and key conference wins for others.

Coming off a career high scoring output and leading his team to a two game winning streak and their first win this season in conference play, Mikhail McLean suffered a major setback to his season.

The Houston Cougars fell 57-44 to American Athletic Conference leaders, the Tulsa Green Wave, but lost one of their captains when McLean suffered a broken leg.

Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson said it was a major loss to the struggling Cougars.

“Our kids are trying. There’s no such thing as no effort. Mikhail McLean broke his foot and is out for the year. Tough break for us,” he said. “He was playing the best basketball and having the most fun. I was on the phone with him last night and it’s a tear jerker. It’s just sad that he would do that this time of year.”

McLean set his career high with 14 points just two games ago as the Cougars broke an eight-game losing streak with a win over Rice. They followed with a 70-68 win over defending national champion UConn before the loss to Tulsa.

A senior forward, he was averaging 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds on the court, while off the court he has been named to the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and won the Conference USA Winter Spirit of Service Award for community service.

While McLean is sidelined, fellow Bahamians Danrad Knowles and LJ Rose continue to lead the Cougars. Knowles finished with seven points and three rebounds against UConn and 10 points and six rebounds against Tulsa. He is averaging 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

Rose has returned to form after an offseason leg injury he suffered as a member of the Bahamas’ national team at this summer’s CBC Championships.

In the upset over UConn he totalled 12 points, four rebounds and five assists, and added nine points four rebounds and four assists against Tulsa.

It was another stellar outing for Buddy Hield as the Sooners moved to 16-7 and 7-4 in the Big 12.

Hield helped lead the No.21 Sooners to a 68-56 win over the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs on Saturday.

The 6’4” junior guard totalled his third double double of his career and second of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He also added three assists and three steals.

It was the fourth consecutive win for the Sooners as they continue from a stretch of games in January when they dropped four of five in conference play.

During its four-game winning streak, the Sooners are shooting 49.8 per cent from the field while holding their opponents to a 31.6-per cent mark.

Hield made the first two three pointers of the game en route to a 9-0 run for the Sooners, but saw that lead erased when they eventually trailed the Horned Frogs by seven.

The Sooners have won those games (two at home and two on the road) by an average of 21.0 points.

Oklahoma returns home to host No. 11 Iowa State on an ESPN Big Monday game at 9pm local time. Hield currently leads the Big 12 at a career high 17.6 points per game. He is shooting 45 per cent from the field, 39 per cent from three-point range, and pulling down 5.6 rebounds per game, all career highs.

In the SEC, both Dwight Coleby and Tavario Miller saw their teams come out successful in conference play.

Coleby chipped in with two points and one rebound in the Ole Miss Rebels 86-79 win over the Auburn Tigers. Miller and the Texas A and M Aggies blew away the Missouri Tigers 83-61. He finished with four points, two rebounds and one assist.

Texas A ansd M returns to College Station to host Georgia on Wednesday while Ole Miss visits Florida Thursday night.