‘Poor Oklahoma’: How Kentucky’s offense sent the Sooners home with another loss
With fewer than two seconds left in the first half Wednesday night, Collin Chandler grabbed a defensive rebound, turned around and slung the basketball the length of the court all in one motion.
“I just chucked it,” the Kentucky guard said after the game. “And I threw some spin on it, so it had a little bit of curve, and it started going towards (the rim).”
The UK basketball fans inside Rupp Arena held their collective breath as that ball neared the basket. Was it actually going in? Well, why wouldn’t it? It seemed like just about everything else the Wildcats had thrown at the rim from any considerable distance had dropped to that point.
“I mean, it was a prayer, so I wasn’t expecting anything,” Chandler said. “But it was just kind of fun that it got close.”
The ball clanged off the front of the rim right around the time the buzzer sounded. An impressive effort that had plenty of folks on the UK sideline smiling as they filed into the tunnel on their way to the locker room.
And there was plenty for the Wildcats to smile about. They headed to the back with their first double-digit halftime lead against a high-major opponent all season, halfway to a 94-78 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners for their seventh win in the past eight games.
This Kentucky team has been on the wrong end at the break plenty of times this season. Some of those deficits have turned into miraculous second-half comebacks. Some have ended with blowout losses. This was a welcomed change.
“It feels good. It definitely feels good,” Chandler said of the 43-32 advantage at halftime. “And I think we play well when we get a lead. And so I think it was really important for us to get that before the half, because we can go and game plan and make adjustments, and I thought we did really well at that.
“And we came out firing again at the start of the second half and never really looked back from there.”
Oklahoma narrowed the margin to eight points late in the game, but — other than that — it was pretty much all Wildcats from there. And the shots started falling from the very beginning.
Kentucky made four 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game — two from Denzel Aberdeen, two from Andrija Jelavic — and went 9 for 16 from deep in the opening half.
“And everyone just started getting their shots,” Jelavic said. “Especially the starters, we are really good shooters, and that’s just something we gotta do. That’s the most dangerous way to score, and it’s worth three points.”
Jasper Johnson and Otega Oweh nailed 3-pointers in the first half, too, but the Cats never really opened it up until Chandler started zeroing in as halftime approached.
The sophomore guard actually missed his first three tries from long range. That’ll happen.
“I mean, I missed my first three 3s,” he said. “And I know my confidence is good when I’m hunting another one. And so that’s how I felt — that I was due for another one.”
His first make broke the final tie of the night, giving UK a 31-28 lead with 5:58 left in the first half. His second make put the Cats ahead 38-32 with 2:17 remaining, marking the first time either team had led by more than five points. And then he hit another 3 a minute later to make it a 41-32 score. Mouhamed Dioubate’s bucket inside the final minute gave UK its 11-point lead at the break.
“I felt like we were getting what we wanted,” Chandler said of the Kentucky offense.
He ended up with 18 points, going 4 of 8 from 3-point range and impressing the opposing coach in the process.
“I mean, Chandler, he comes flying off of them,” said Oklahoma’s Porter Moser. “You’re on a dead sprint on a baseline stagger from one corner to the other wing. Stop, dime, shoot. Those are tough shots. It shows you how good of a shooter he is to be able to catch and shoot off the move like that.”
Chandler tied his career high in points — set two weeks ago in a win over Texas — and he was still only third in the scoring column.
Brandon Garrison tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds, his first double-double at Kentucky, the second in his three seasons in college basketball and just one point shy of his career high in scoring. (Garrison dropped 21 on Mark Pope’s BYU Cougars as a freshman at Oklahoma State.)
The 20 points were nice, but it was the 11 boards — on a night UK outrebounded the Sooners 41-25 and won second-chance points 19-7 — that stood out on Garrison’s stat line.
“That’s what we need,” Chandler said. “We’ve searched and searched for an identity, and what we’ve learned is the toughest team wins. The team that’s going to play the toughest, and BG is tough. So we need him.”
Garrison didn’t lead the Cats in scoring either, though. The answer there is the obvious one, made even more clear by the competition.
Oweh is as consistent as they come in college basketball — he’s now scored in double figures in all 23 of Kentucky’s games this season — and when Oklahoma is on the other sideline, the former Sooner seems to take it to another level.
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Last year, he turned in one of the best performances by a Wildcat in years, willing UK to a victory in his return to Norman, where he spent the first two seasons of his college career. And then he beat the buzzer to eliminate his old team in the SEC Tournament two weeks later.
On Wednesday night, he delivered once again.
“You know, as coaches, you always want to nitpick,” said UK assistant coach Jason Hart. “But he’s a bad dude. Otega Oweh is a really good basketball player. He’s consistent. He’s our leader. And sometimes I’m kind of in awe, watching him.”
Oweh scored 24 points on his former team in this one. He was 7 for 11 from the field, 3 for 4 from 3-point range and 7 of 9 on free throws. It was his eighth 20-point game in 10 SEC contests so far this season, and his old coach was basically in awe of what he’s become.
“He’s an elite player,” Moser said. “Obviously, he can knock down the shot. He puts you in a real decision-making mode off ball screens, because he can turn the corner on you, and now he’s making really good decisions passing out of it. He’s just becoming a complete player.”
Well after the game had ended, the Oklahoma coach was still marveling at a stepback 3 that Oweh had dropped on his team.
“He’s really almost — I don’t want to say impossible (to guard) — but he’s damn close, when he’s hitting rocker-step 3s,” Moser said. “Because if he gets an angle on you, he’s keeping the angle, because he’s so strong. I know that 3 was right in front of our bench.”
A reminder of what the Sooners once had on that sideline, as if they needed one.
“I don’t know. I mean, poor Oklahoma,” Chandler said. “I think they probably expect it at this point, coming in against O. And I don’t know what to do as a game plan for that, because it happens every time.”
Chandler said his teammate is probably the best downhill driver in the country. So what is a defender to do when Oweh’s making outside shots and hitting stepback 3s on top of that? Good luck finding the answer to that one.
“You kind of have to pick your poison,” Chandler concluded.
Oklahoma had no antidote for Oweh — or pretty much anyone else in blue — Wednesday night. The SEC’s worst-rated defense lost another game, falling to 1-9 in league play. The Cats won another one, improving to 7-3 in the conference ahead of their rematch with No. 25 Tennessee on Saturday night in Rupp Arena, a game that could vault UK back into the national rankings for the first time in two months.
After a season filled with stops and starts — and keeping in mind that the Cats are only eight days removed from a blowout loss at Vanderbilt — this team certainly appears to be humming along at the right time.
Kentucky’s 94 points were a season high against a high-major opponent. The Wildcats ended with 12 3-pointers and 21 assists, both of those numbers tying previous season highs against high-major competition. UK also committed only six turnovers against the Sooners.
Hart, a longtime NBA point guard, enjoyed that stat.
“I’m a point guard, so I keep (track of) those turnovers,” he said. “And if we take care of the ball, it gives us a chance to win. … And I think when you share the basketball, it makes it more enjoyable to watch. So those six turnovers were huge for us.”
What did Pope have to say about this victory? Not much.
Hart handled the press conference — and fellow assistant Mikhail McLean took over the postgame radio show — because the head coach had more important things to do.
Just minutes after the buzzer sounded, Pope bounded out of the UK locker room — wearing a beanie, holding a winter coat and with Hart in tow — and quickly climbed the stairs to the podium. He said he’d make a quick statement but Hart would take all the questions.
Pope’s daughter, Avery, had spent more than a year on a Mormon mission to El Salvador. She was about to arrive at Blue Grass Airport, and dad wanted to be there when she did.
“My daughter lands in 23 minutes,” Pope said hurriedly. “I’m super proud of our guys. Really proud of the effort. Really proud of BG stepping up and being great. Otega continues to play at an elite level. We got contributions from everybody.
“And it’s 22 minutes till Avery lands. I’m out, guys.”
With that, Pope bounded back down those stairs and departed Rupp Arena with another win.
