In the tough Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma seems to be surging at just the right time.
De’Vion Harmon paced OU with 22 points Saturday as the Sooners upset previously No. 9 Kansas (10-5, 4-4 in the Big 12) in Norman, 75-68.
That put Oklahoma (9-4, 5-3 in the Big 12) alone in third place in the Big 12 behind Baylor (14-0, 7-0) and Texas (11-2, 5-1).
(The Sooners played at Texas Tuesday night).
“Both teams, I thought, fought like crazy,” OU coach Lon Kruger said about the Kansas game. “Buckets were hard to come by, at times, on both ends of the floor. Again, just proud of our guys. A game that could have gone either way. Guys hung in there, got a little bit of a margin there late, made free throws late and did a good job to close it out.”
OU has now won three of their last four games against Kansas in Norman and the Sooners are 8-1 at home this season.
Kansas, which lost to Oklahoma State and Baylor, has now lost three straight games for the first time since 2013.
“We’re just like 97 percent of the other teams in America,” said KU coach Bill Self. “We’ve had a hard stretch, but we’ve played three road games against tournament teams. I don’t think we’re talented enough not to have a hard stretch if we don’t play well if we’re playing on the road against teams that are tournament teams.
“I don’t think that it’s broken. I do think that it certainly needs some repairing. I think we need a boost of energy. We may need to shake things up a little bit lineup-wise. … I told our guys the storybook season is done, as far as winning all your games and (getting) a one or two seed, that’s probably done. What we have to create is a storybook ending. That’s still in play.”
Marcus Garrett had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead Kansas. The Jayhawks had only two offensive rebounds. KU was leading the league in rebounding margin but were outrebounded by OU, 36-26.
Oklahoma is in third place in a league with five Top 25 teams and is ranked No. 24 this week.
And ESPN is predicting that OU will be in the NCAA Tournament and as high as a No. 7 seed.
OU will host No. 18 Alabama (13-3, 8-0 in the SEC) at 11 a.m. Saturday as part of the Big 12/SEC annual challenge.