Taming The Wildcat: Sooners Bounce Back With Win Over KSU

<p>Oklahoma responded nicely to Monday's loss to Kansas by beating up on Kansas State on Saturday afternoon. </p>

Saturday, January 9th 2016, 7:12 pm

By: Brett Coppenbarger

Taming The Wildcat: Sooners Bounce Back With Win Over KSU

After Monday’s triple-overtime loss to No. 1 Kansas, it would be reasonable for one to expect the No. 2 Oklahoma (13-1, 2-1) to come out flat against an unranked Kansas State team on a Saturday afternoon, but that wasn’t the case at all.

What Phog Allen hangover? @OU_MBBall
— Dean Blevins (@DeanBlevins) January 9, 2016

Lon Kruger’s Sooners came out of the gates on a mission, and dominated the Wildcats in the first half and used that cushion to cruise to a 86-76 victory inside of a sold out Lloyd Noble Center.

Buddy Hield was tremendous as usual with 31 points on 11 of 14 shooting from the field, and joins Blake Griffin as the only OU players in the last 20 years with six 30-point games in a season. Hield also added eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks to his stat-line.

Buddy Hield now w/ 6 games of at least 30 points this year. The other 133 Big 12 players who have played have combined for the same number.
— Mike Houck (@mhouckOU) January 9, 2016

It looked like the game was headed for a blowout when the Sooners held a 42-21 lead with 4:38 left in the first half, but the Wildcats scored the final 12 points before halftime and cut their deficit to only nine points at intermission.

OU built up a lead as high as 18-points in the second half, and held off the Wildcats fierce rally to hold on for a double-digit win at home.

Along with Hield, Jordan Woodard continued his stellar play with 19 points while Ryan Spangler totaled 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Khadeem Lattin was a force in the paint for OU, and flirted with a triple-double as he totaled 10 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.

While OU’s starters looked great, the bench combined to score only six points. The Sooners will be able to sneak by teams such as K-State with performances like that from their second unit, but they better find some sort of scoring option when facing stiffer competition.

Saturday’s win adds icing to the cake on a day where the Sooners picked up a commitment from Ohio State transfer Austin Grandstaff, who was a four-star prospect out of Dallas and decided to transfer after his freshman season to be closer to home. Grandstaff will be eligible in January 2017.

OU is now 2-1 in Big 12 play, and will be back in action on Wednesday for Bedlam in Stillwater. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

Lon Kruger’s Sooners came out of the gates on a mission, and dominated the Wildcats in the first half and used that cushion to cruise to a 86-76 victory inside of a sold out Lloyd Noble Center.

Buddy Hield now w/ 6 games of at least 30 points this year. The other 133 Big 12 players who have played have combined for the same number.
— Mike Houck (@mhouckOU) January 9, 2016

OU built up a lead as high as 18-points in the second half, and held off the Wildcats fierce rally to hold on for a double-digit win at home.

OU is now 2-1 in Big 12 play, and will be back in action on Wednesday for Bedlam in Stillwater. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

","published":"2016-01-10T01:12:42.000Z","updated":"2016-01-10T01:19:28.000Z","summary":"

Oklahoma responded nicely to Monday's loss to Kansas by beating up on Kansas State on Saturday afternoon.

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