The Mizzou Tigers, coming off a tough loss on the road against Vanderbilt, faced off against the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.
All season long, the Tigers have been characterized as one of the best offensive teams in the nation, mostly due to their ability to force turnovers. However, tonight, this was not the case, as they were only able to force 9 turnovers in the loss to the Sooners.
This wasn’t the main issue:
The issue was that Oklahoma got pretty much any shot they wanted, especially throughout the first half.
To begin the game, the Sooners jumped out to an early 14-8 lead. The catch? They were 6-for-7 from the field, with all of their made shots coming on layups.
Oklahoma's Sam Godwin got the Sooners started early by scoring 6 of their first 8 points, all from inside the paint.
Goodwin went out early in the first half with an apparent knee injury. Despite that, he notched 12 points in 11 minutes before the Sooners lost him for the remainder of the game.
Things wouldn’t stop there for the Sooners, as freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears was perfect from the field in the first half, shooting 5-for-5.
The Sooners closed out the first half with a commanding 12-point lead, shooting 69% from the field and seemingly getting any shot they wanted.
All night long, the Tigers' help-side defense was poor, and the Sooners were able to get one good look after another.
Fears led the way for the Sooners, finishing with a career-high 31 points in the 96-84 win.
In what was undoubtedly the worst game the Tigers played all year, the issue on the defensive side of the ball was apparent, and the Sooners' offense was dominant all night. The Tigers fell behind and were never able to regain control of the game, dropping to 10-7 in SEC play.
One important thing to note from the loss is that the Tigers haven’t won a “rematch” all season long, which is something to consider with the SEC Tournament starting next week.
The Tigers will look to bounce back in their final game at Mizzou Arena as they host the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. for the final game of the 2024-25 regular season.