OU's Upset Bid Falls Short At The Buzzer Against Missouri

News9.com

NORMAN, Oklahoma – Despite their No. 4 ranking, Missouri has played well below its means on occasion this year.

And despite its losing conference record, OU has put together some very impressive conference games this year.

Unfortunately for the Sooners, those two incidents didn't overlap quite enough to come away with a victory as the Tigers held on to win a tight 71-68 game in Norman.

After a loose ball went off the Tigers and out of bounds, the Sooners regained possession with five seconds to play and down three.

Missouri made an intentional decision to foul OU's Romero Osby, who was a 75 percent free throw shooter on the year, to keep the Sooners from attempting a tying 3-pointer.

Osby intended to make the first and intentionally miss the second, hoping for an offensive rebound put-back.

But he missed his first of two free throws, meaning the Sooners needed another miss and a kick-out to the 3-point line for a chance to tie it.

Osby clanged the ball of the front of the rim and it ricocheted out to Steven Pledger, who could not have asked for a more perfect look at the basket.

But Pledger's attempt bounced off the side of the rim as the buzzer sounded, and he fell to his back and covered his face in disbelief.

Glancing at the stat sheet, it's not hard to see why Missouri chose to foul at the end of the game, and it's not hard to see what the difference in the game was for Oklahoma.

The Sooners finished 9-of-23 from the free throw line in the game (39 percent) despite outstanding shooting from the rest of the court in the game.

OU's percentage from the floor (51 percent) and especially from beyond the arc (58 percent) both heavily outweighed its numbers from the line.

Despite his missed attempt at the buzzer, Pledger was huge for the Sooners, scoring 22 points and connecting on 5-of-9 3-pointers.

Guard Sam Grooms had 17 points and nine assists, and Andrew Fitzgerald scored 12 for the Sooners.

Marcus Denmon of Missouri (22-2, 9-2 conference) led all scorers with 25 points.

The Sooners outrebounded the Tigers 31-18 in the game.

OU fell to 13-10 overall (3-8 in Big 12 play) and will hit the road for its next game. The Sooners will travel to Texas Tech on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tipoff with the Red Raiders.