Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves scored a career-high 41 points to lead a stunning comeback for the Sooners who beat TCU 78-76 Saturday in Fort Worth.
The win put Oklahoma in third place in the final regular season Big 12 standings and solidified their case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. A loss would have made them a No. 7 seed in this week’s Big 12 Championship Tournament.
Reaves poured in 15 of his points in a 23-9 run by Oklahoma (19-12, 9-9 Big 12) over the last five minutes of the game. Reaves even had a four-point play with less than two minutes left.
“Give Reaves credit, he made shots, he made plays, he got to the foul line over and over again,” said TCUY coach Jamie Dixon said. “I was disappointed we fouled him in situations that shouldn’t have been fouled in. That’s the problem. We’ve got to get smarter.“
OU’s Kristian Doolittle added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sooner trailed by as many as 20 points and never led until the waning moments. Reaves made the winning shot with one half of second remaining.
“Coach (Lon Kruger) drew up the play for me, showing that he had the confidence in me,” Reaves said. “For him to have the confidence in me as well as the players, that just shows a lot to me, so I just had the confidence to make the shot.”
Reaves was 12 of 23 from the field, and was 15 of 16 at the free throw line. His 31 points in a win over TCU on Jan. 18 was previously the most by a Big 12 player this season. OU lost by one point on a last second shot by Texas earlier in the week.
“We just lost one like that,” OU coach Lon Kruger said.
“So I feel so for coach (Jamie) Dixon and how great their guys were playing, and then we’ve got to sneak it out there at the end,” said Kruger. “But I really do have mixed emotions about not, not being as excited as I would like to be because I know how painful that is.”
“Certainly a heart-breaking loss for us,” said Dixon. “We tried everything different in the second half defensively, lining up different adjustments. They just made the plays, made the shots.
“I’m really disappointed for our seniors, disappointed for our team, disappointed for our fans. I thought we played tremendous in the first half. We told them what we needed to do in the second half — no 3s and take care of the basketball and get it done on the glass. We didn’t do any of those things.”
Oklahoma will play No. 22 West Virginia (21-10, 9-9) at 8 p.m. Thursday for the third time this season. The Sooners swept the Mountaineers, 69-59 in Norman and 73-62 in West Virginia.
On February 8, OU’s Kristian Doolittle had 27 points and 12 rebounds in the win over then-No. 13 West Virginia. On February 29, Doolittle and scored 20 points against the then-No. 20 Mountaineer. That was a crucial road win for the Sooners.
“How you finish will determine who goes and who doesn’t,” Kruger said
OU won three of their last four games, including a last-second one-point defeat at home against Texas (51-52). The Mountaineers have lost seven of their last games (including twice to Oklahoma) but West Virginia ended the regular season with a road win over Iowa State and a 76-64 upset of No. 4 Baylor. Earlier in the season, West Virginia beat then-No. 2 Ohio State.
Oklahoma is the No. 3 seed in the tournament even though three other teams – Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia – all have 9-9 Big 12 marks. OU got the best seed because the Sooners’ record against the other three
(1-1 vs. Texas, 1-1 vs. Texas Tech, 2-0 vs. West Virginia). Texas and Texas Tech were both 3-3 in the round robin of tied teams.
WVU is the sixth seed due to its 2-4 record against the tied teams.
Even though West Virginia coach Bob Huggins liked playing in the Big East Tournament in New York City before the Mountaineers joined the Big 12, he has started to like Kansas City. But he doesn’t like playing in Oklahoma City.
“It took a while because it’s hard to get New York out of your system and it’s hard to get Madison Square Garden out of your system, but I like it,” he said. “When I was at K-State (in 2007) we had the tournament in Oklahoma City and that was a disaster. Nobody went.
“Everybody says what an advantage it gives Kansas, well, it also gives Iowa State an advantage because their people travel,” Huggins said. “They buy tickets. I can remember the first time we went out there and I met with the lady at the Marriott and I was like, ‘Well, I guess Kansas has bought all of the tickets’ and she started laughing and said, ‘That’s what everybody thinks. Iowa State buys all of the tickets and they take all of the rooms.’
“It’s great for those people that can drive, and it makes for a great atmosphere.”