HOUSTON — Oklahoma couldn’t stop the bleeding in the second half against a Villanova team that will be one tough out in the final.
Here are three reasons the Sooners’ season ended one game too early.
HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 02: Buddy Hield #24 and Christian James #3 of the Oklahoma Sooners react in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats during the NCAA Men’s Final Four Semifinal at NRG Stadium on April 2, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
The Buddy Factor
College basketball’s best player hit his first shot but was put in a strait jacket the rest of the way. One day after putting on a shooting exhibition during Friday’s shootaround, he never seemed comfortable. Those wide-open looks he enjoyed against Oregon were few and far between against the Wildcats.
“Just credit them, what they were doing,” Hield said. “Made it tough on me. Throwing a bunch of bodies at me. Just couldn’t get it going. They made shots. We was trying to find a way to make shots. They just played terrific tonight.”
Hield was held to one point in the second half on 1-of-4 shooting. The fact he finished with only 12 shot attempts is partly testament to Villanova’s dominance. He never had a moment to rest. ‘Nova played him like Oregon should have: with constant pressure.
Nova shot lights out and took care of the ball
The Wildcats have been careless with the ball at different times of the year but their guards were razor sharp against an OU backcourt that had the edge in athleticism coming into the game. Not only did the Cats limit turnovers, they shot the heck out of the ball, to the tune of 71 percent.
Villanova finished with only 11 turnovers while Oklahoma committed 17, five coming during a 12-0 Villanova run, one of several big spurts in the second half. Before you could ask “What happened?” the Sooners were down 30-plus.
You know, we lost our composure there obviously and things came apart,” Coach Lon Kruger said. “You never like handling things like that. We’d liked to have handled their run a little bit better.”
The bigs were ineffective
For one reason or another, the OU posts couldn’t solve the riddle of the Villanova zone. Young Khadeem Lattin, whose grandfather was honored with his West Texas State teammates at halftime of the North Carolina-Syracuse fell victim to foul trouble and scored only two points while Ryan Spangler finished with six.
On the other side, the Wildcats got a combined 28 points and 14 rebounds from forwards Daniel Ochefu and Kris Jenkins.
The Sooners were on the short list of most fun teams to watch this season. Too bad they picked the sport’s biggest stage to play their worst game. Hield will continue to entertain us in the pros and Kruger will have another good group back for 2016.
