Sooners beat Longhorns

(OUInsider Staff)

Lead by the powerful and athletic presence of senior forward Romero Osby and junior forward Amath M’Baye, the Oklahoma Sooners continued to show the Big 12 Conference and the nation that they are going to be a factor in college basketball this year beating arch-rival Texas 73-67 in front of 7, 335 fans a the Lloyd Noble Center.

Playing in front of a Big Monday audience on ESPN Osby officially joined the players to watch list in the Big 12 taking over the game in the second half and finishing with career high 29 points and eight rebounds, both highs for the game..

Anytime the Sooners needed a bucket they would find Osby and the senior from Meridian, Mississippi would go to work down low and at the top of key using a variety of power moves with a nice soft touch around the basket. Osby finished 9-15 from the floor and hit his third 3-pointer of the year.

““It was just a testament to my teammates and Coach (Kruger) because Coach was just running stuff for me and my teammates were finding me in good spots and getting the ball to me,” said Osby. “They were giving me the ball in good spots and I didn’t have to do too much with it once I got it, all I had to do was make a little move and I just have to give the 29-points to my teammates and coaches. I was able to get on the free throw line (10-11) and things were clicking for me tonight.

“I am not going to look for ‘3s’, but if they come in the flow of the offense then I will take the shot and feel I can make them. However, I am not on the floor to shoot ‘3s’ because we have other guys like Buddy and Pledger (Steven Pledger) that can do that, but I can shoot it if it is in the flow of the offense and that one tonight was so I just knocked it down.”

Helping Osby inside was M’Baye who finished with 15-points and five rebounds as he and Osby both had electric dunks off lob passes from freshman guard Buddy Hield (12,4,4,3,2,2) who finished around the rum with acrobatic scoops and drop shots. However, it was Osby who took over the game, and the senior finally got his win over Texas.

“It told Sam (Grooms) in the huddle that we finally got these guys because we had not beaten them since I had been here,” said Osby. I am glad we got them tonight.”

The win now moves OU to 13-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while Texas falls to 8-10 and 0-5.

“We played hard from the start and it took us a little while to get going there,” said OU Head Men’s Basketball Coach Lon Kruger. “Texas played hard and very physical with us and it took us a little while to work through that. The guys did a great job of coming out with great energy in the second half and were really aggressive on both ends of the floor. Of course all of us played off of Romero as he was fantastic all night long and the other guys played well as well. I am really happy for the guys.”

The Longhorns are big inside with five guys 6-foot-7 or bigger but Osby and M’Baye stole the show with their speed, quickness and athletic ability.

“I thought they were fantastic,” said Coach Kruger. “I thought Ro and Amath established early that they were going to be aggressive and attack and the guys did a great job of getting the ball to them in great spots. They were very aggressive on the offensive end, which we needed.”

M’Baye transferred from Wyoming and had to sit out last year but he has settled in and given the Sooners a solid one-two punch down low, and he has leaned how to play off Osby.

“I am not surprised to see Ro have a game like that,” said M’Baye. “I see it every day in practice as he is a great athlete and is so big and strong in the post area. He is just a workhorse and I have not seen a better post player here in the states or over in Europe. It is just amazing to play next to somebody like that, because all the attention is on him and it tends to get me open a little bit. He is really easy to play with and Ro is really a role model for me, and he is a great senior and a great leader and he leads not with his points and rebounds, but how hard that he plays.”

The game started off ragged and the teams combined for 21 turnovers in the first half, but once OU settled down on offense they built a 30-26 lead at the half.

“Defensively we opened up fine in the game, but Texas forced some turnovers early, and some of them were unforced,” said Coach Kruger. “We didn’t have much flow going offensively with our movement, and they were physical and into us a little bit and we didn’t respond great to that, but in the second half we came back out and had a lot better activity.”

Both teams handled the ball much better in the second half as OU finished with 13-turnovers and forced 15 out of Texas. OU shot 48.1 from the floor and held Texas to just 44.3 percent shooting.

Osby scored Oklahoma’s 21 of 33 points in the middle of the game and with less than two minutes to go in the game Texas tried to rally but the Sooners sealed the deal at the free throw line (21-27) with the Sooner student section chanting ‘just like football’ in celebrating the Sooner victory and to the Sooners three straight wins on the gridiron for the Sooners.

Next up for the Sooners a showdown in Lawrence, Kansas Saturday against the fourth ranked Kansas Jayhawks (16-1, 4-0) at 3:00 PM on ESPN.