By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
On the day that they earned their No.1 ranking, Buddy Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners suffered a big defeat at the James H Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, on Monday night.
The new top ranked Oklahoma suffered a 82-77 loss to the No.19 ranked Iowa State as Monte Morris hit a jumper, grabbed a key rebound and sunk a pair of free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the deal for the Cyclones, who improved to 14-4 and 3-3 in the Big 12.
It was just their second loss for the season for the Sooners, who earlier in the day moved up to No.1 for the first time in 26 years. Oklahoma’s initial loss came in a 109-106 triple overtime decision to then No.1 ranked Kansas. At the time, Oklahoma was ranked at No.2.
In Monday’s game, Oklahoma got a three-pointer with 41 seconds left from Isaiah Cousins to tie the game at 75-75. But Morris drilled a step-back jumper for the lead and Abdel Nader canned two free throws with 3.1 seconds to put the game out of reach for the Sooners.
Hield, the Grand Bahamian senior guard, scored a game high 27 points, shooting 10-of-23 from the field and was 7-of-14 from the foul line, while adding six rebounds with four assists and a steal. Cousins had a career-high 26 for the Sooners, who fell to 15-2 and 4-2 in the Big 12.
Oklahoma’s two losses came in two of the toughest places to play in the country. But despite their first loss to Kansas, many are still arguing that it was probably the best game of the season so far.
“We came ready to play. But Iowa State had more fight than us,” said Hield about their latest heart-breaking loss.
Hield’s seven three-pointers were just one shy of his career high. He hit eight against Kansas on January 4. Additionally, he continues to lead the Sooners in scoring in 14 of their 17 games this season, including in each of the last 11 and he has scored at least 20 points in 10 of their last 11 games (and in 13 of 17 total contests this season).
Following Monday’s game, Hield is averaging 26.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 34.2 minutes per game. He’s shooting .514 (144-280) from the field, .515 (70-136) from the three-point line and .904 (84-94) from the charity stripe. In conference play, he’s averaging 28.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
The Sooners are scheduled to be back in action noon Saturday when they travel to play the Baylor Bears at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID