Four-point play: Texas tops Oklahoma 80-78 in OT to sweep regular season series

No. 20 Texas’ 80-78 overtime win over Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. secures the first regular season sweep of the Sooners since 2017-18. It took five minutes of free basketball and a lot of free throws to get there, but Chris Beard’s crew will leave the Lloyd Noble Center with win No. 19, Big 12 win No. 8, and Quadrant 1 win No. 5.

Andrew Jones, as he normally does against Oklahoma, played one of his best games of the season. After a 22-point performance against the Sooners in Austin in January, he posted another 20-point game versus OU scoring 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three, with seven rebounds in 43 minutes.

Thought 1: Overtime

Before summarizing Jones’ efforts, Texas’ efforts in the extra period require mention.

The Longhorns scored at least one point in all eight overtime possessions. There were a couple of missed free throws by Marcus Carr, but he made the ones Texas needed in order to stay ahead of the Sooners.

Overall, Texas scored 14 points in OT to Oklahoma’s 12. Carr had six points in overtime to go with his 10 in regulation. Timmy Allen also added six points before fouling out with under 10 seconds remaining when the Longhorns were up three. Christian Bishop added two points midway through overtime.

Oklahoma had nine overtime possessions. Elijah Harkless did some great things in the extra period, but had an important turnover with 43 seconds left that gave the Longhorns the opportunity to take a three-point lead.

It took several swings both teams’ way to make it to overtime. Oklahoma went on a 5-0 run early in the second half, Texas responded with an 11-0 run, but Oklahoma’s 9-3 run over the final three minutes sent the game to OT. Even with the Sooners charging back, Texas played with enough composure — zero overtime turnovers to Oklahoma’s two — to head south on IH-35 with a Big 12 win.

Thought 2: Andrew Jones and Oklahoma

The senior guard from Irving, Texas is 5-3 in his career against the Sooners. Though his first career Red River Shootout game ended with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, he may have saved his best two performances in the basketball edition of the rivalry for last.

In January, Jones scored a season-high 22 points against OU on 7-of-15 shooting and 5-of-10 from three.

After being inserted into the starting lineup on Tuesday, and following foul trouble for Carr and Courtney Ramey, Jones put his stamp on the rivalry with another 20-point game.

Jones finished 8-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-5 from three. He also made an impact on the boards pulling down a team-best seven rebounds. He was the offensive catalyst in the first half, scoring 10 points. He added another 10 in the second half and did so when the Longhorn lineup wasn’t filled with offensive difference-makers.

Though held scoreless in overtime, he gave a tremendous 43-minute effort against Texas’ chief rival. Like he has on several occasions in the Red River Shootout, Jones showed up and was a huge factor in a UT victory.

Thought 3: Post play without Tre Mitchell

After the program announced Tre Mitchell is on a personal leave of absence, post play was going to be an unknown for the Longhorns.

Mitchell has been up-and-down on both ends of the floor, but he provided a lot of good minutes for the Longhorns that were not available on Tuesday.

As a result, Allen and Bishop needed to play solid games, and Texas needed to get something from Dylan Disu. Allen tied Jones with a team high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including his six overtime points. Bishop scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. He showcased a nifty behind-the-back dribble on one successful fast break, and made an important defensive play in the late stages to prevent an open Oklahoma three.

Disu did not offer a game the quality of Mitchell’s on either end of the floor in his 12 minutes, and Texas went with small and arguably tiny lineups instead of throwing the 6-foot-9 rebounder on the floor.

Four Sooner starters had 16 or more points. The only one that didn’t? Tanner Groves, who has scored seven total points in two games against the Longhorns. His four points and Ethan Chargois’ two points were the only buckets not scored by one of Harkless, Jordan Goldwire, Umoja Gibson, and Jalen Hill.

Texas did give up 30 points in the paint and 13 layups, so there were some aspects of the interior defense that need shoring up in Mitchell’s absence. Overall, the remaining bigs did their part to help seal a victory.

Thought 4: A road win strengthens Texas’ resume

Entering this game, Texas was 2-6 in true road games and 4-6 in Quadrant 1 games. Add another number to the left column in each category thanks to some quality coaching.

Because of first-half foul trouble from three starters, Beard had to throw some lineups on the floor that have not had a lot of time together this year. Individual scoring effort from Jones helped buoy some of the more offensively challenged lineups through those first half minutes, but overall effort from all five on the floor kept Texas ahead as the game went to halftime.

Devin Askew played 25 minutes, one shy of his season high. He had no turnovers was +1 for the game.

Bishop was one shy of his season high in minutes and posted his second-highest point total as a Longhorn.

Because of all these things, plus outshooting the Sooners from the field, posting fewer turnovers, and staying close to OU despite in the rebounding battle the depleted frontcourt depth, Texas gained a valuable win against a rival, a conference mate, and with just a few weeks until March.

It took a lot of tinkering and planning from the bench, but the Longhorns got the job done.

Texas improves to 19-7 and 8-5 in the Big 12. Oklahoma falls to 14-12 and 4-9 in the Big 12.