The Red River showdown made its way to the Frank C. Erwin basketball arena in Austin on Tuesday night as Oklahoma basketball took on No. 5 Texas. The Sooners found themselves adding a number next to their name last week after beating Kansas. Now ranked 24th in the nation, the Oklahoma Sooners hoped to keep their win streak going against a tough Texas team.
Though the Sooners knew this would be a tough game, if there is one thing Oklahoma knows how to do, it’s how to beat Texas. Coming in as a heavy underdog, Sooner basketball was still able to pull through and clinch its fourth win in a row.
Key point and players
Texas seemed to struggle with fouls as well as a combination of missed opportunities. Between the Longhorn struggle and a red hot Sooner basketball team, Oklahoma actually led the game for a total of 31 minutes, having it appear almost superior to Texas.
Though the Sooners led for a little more than half of the game, the score remained close throughout the entirety of the game as both the Longhorns and the Sooners battled it out to stay on top.
The game actually ended in an unconventional way after Sooner point guard Austin Reaves drew a foul to clinch two free throws to win the game by one single point.
However, Reaves’ second free throw seemed to be bobbling out of the net to send Texas back down the court, but a Texas player accidentally tipped the ball in the net ultimately winning the game for the Sooners 80-79 leading Oklahoma to take down powerhouse Texas.
Eventual game winner. pic.twitter.com/qyp0LAD5oj
— Nathan Thompson (@NathanDThompson) January 27, 2021
Of course, OU cannot contribute all of its wins to Texas as many Oklahoma players were on top of their game just as we have seen later in the season. With the current mix between young and old, both sides of the spectrum made an impact against UT.
The player of the game seemed to be credited to Reaves. Reaves not only made the winning shot for his team, but he also scored a total of 23 points on the night with 11 of those points being made in the first half of the game alone. Reaves also added four assists to his stats sheet and shot a 46.7% for the night along with 87.5% on free throws.
Alongside Reaves, rising star and sophomore guard De’Vion Harmon also had a good game racking up a total of 13 points along with one assist and a steal. Harmon ended his night with a 60% shooting percentage, which was even better than his senior counterpart showing the young sophomore has growing potential to be a future leader for Oklahoma basketball.
The Sooners are currently on a red hot streak having won their last four games, two of those teams being highly ranked Kansas and Texas.
