Community Picks: Oklahoma 0% vs Texas Tech 0%

Buddy Hield and Oklahoma have bounced back from each of their defeats this season, but a meeting with Texas Tech on Wednesday night could make continuing that difficult. Oklahoma (20-4, 8-4 in Big 12) hasn't lost consecutive games since Jan. 19 and 24, 2015, and Hield is among the biggest reasons for that. Hield didn't have any such problems in a 91-67 rout of Texas Tech on Jan. 26, pouring in 30 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 5 of 8 from long range. Continue to Article

February 17, 2016 1:57:am EST

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- ''Havoc'' is finally taking hold at Texas, where first-year coach Shaka Smart and the No. 24 Longhorns have shaken off a slow start to join the hunt for the Big 12 title. Texas (16-8, 7-4 Big 12) sits firmly among the four teams in a second-place logjam just one game out of first heading into Saturday night's big road matchup at No. 14 Iowa State (17-7, 6-5). Beat Iowa State and Texas knows that a league crown the Longhorns haven't worn since 2008 could be there for the taking. Continue to Article

February 12, 2016 6:18:pm EST

Oklahoma should fall from the top spot of the AP Top 25, but the bigger concern for coach Lon Kruger's squad is regaining its composure in time to rebound from another Big 12 road defeat. The country's top 3-point shooting team at 46.2 percent coming into the weekend, Oklahoma (19-3, 7-3) went a season-worst 6-of-24 from beyond the arc in Saturday's 80-69 loss at Kansas State. It was an all-around rough night for the Sooners, who failed to hold an early nine-point lead, allowed the Wildcats to shoot better than any opponent has against them (52.9 percent) this season and reached a boiling point when senior Isaiah Cousins received a late technical for kicking the ball into the crowd. Continue to Article

February 07, 2016 1:10:pm EST

Javan Felix scored 20 points and surging Texas beat Texas Tech 69-59 Saturday as the Longhorns got their seventh win in eight games to stay in the thick of the Big 12 race. Next up for the Longhorns: No. 1 Oklahoma, the only team Texas hasn't played yet in the league. Isaiah Taylor added 13 points and eight assists for the Longhorns (16-7, 7-3), who started 1-2 in the Big 12 before their recent push sent them into Saturday just a game out of first place. Continue to Article

February 06, 2016 4:28:pm EST

In addition to his lethal spot-up shooting and knack for drawing fouls attacking the rim, Buddy Hield showed off another of his talents Saturday night at LSU. He's also a pretty good decoy With the score tied and Oklahoma holding for the last shot, Hield lined up at the foul line as though he was going to set a top-of-the-key ball screen for point guard Isaiah Cousins. Hield instead floated out to the right wing, drawing enough attention to himself in the process that Cousins was able to drive left, beat his man and sink a pull-up jumper to give the Sooners a 77-75 road victory.  Using Hield as a decoy was a masterful strategy from Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger because the 6-foot-4 senior had been the focal point of the Sooners' attack all day. Hield widened his lead in the national player of the year race by scoring a game-high 32 points on 11-for-22 shooting from the field and 8-for-15 shooting from behind the arc. Every time LSU lost track of Hield in transition or failed to stick to him in a half-court set, he made them pay. He sank back-to-back 3-pointers to give Oklahoma a 66-65 lead in a game it trailed by double figures earlier in the second half. He later made another huge right-wing 3-pointer to put the Sooners back in front in the final two minutes. Fellow national player of the year candidate Ben Simmons had some nice moments, but too often he did not touch the ball down the stretch. The likely No. 1 pick in next June's draft finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

January 30, 2016 7:20:pm EST