Sooners Dealt First Loss Of The Season In Mens Basketball

Wisconsin guard D’Mitrik Trice couldn’t make a 3-pointer in Wednesday’s opening round of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. In Thursday’s second round, he practically couldn’t miss.

A day after going 0-for-5 from 3-point range, Trice sank 7-of-8 from that distance to score a career-high 25 points in leading the Badgers to a 78-58 victory over Oklahoma. The seven 3-pointers were a tournament record.

“Yesterday the shots didn’t go in, but today they fell,” said Trice, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from behind the arc before missing his final attempt with less than six minutes left and the Badgers comfortably ahead. “This means a lot. I thank my teammates and coaches for always believing in me, and I just continue to work on my confidence to get this thing rolling.”

No. 25 Wisconsin (5-0) held a slim two-point lead at 33-31 a minute into the second half before going on a 12-3 run to build a 45-34 advantage. Moments later, the Badgers ripped off 10 consecutive points to take a commanding 60-41 lead.

While Trice led the way, several other Wisconsin players contributed as well, with Ethan Happ and Kobe King scoring 14 each. Overall, the Badgers sank 47.5 percent of their shots from the field and went a sparkling 14-of-22 from 3-point range (63.6 percent).

“Guys did a good job of finding the open guy,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “It was all hands on deck. You never know when your time’s going to come.”

Christian James scored 18 points for the Sooners (4-1), who were solid from the field as well, making 47 percent of their shots (24-of-51).

“It was a good battle for a while, we just didn’t sustain what we needed to,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job, and then they made a run in the second half. … They made shots, and we couldn’t get a run to get back into the game.”

The Sooners will face Dayton in the third-place game on Friday morning at 10:30 CT on ESPN2.