Oklahoma basketball notebook: Buddy Hield played aggressive basketball

Mar 10, 2013 (The Oklahoman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Buddy Hield could have shied away from the TCU players.

The last time he was on the court with the Horned Frogs, he broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot when he awkwardly stepped on a TCU defender's foot.

Less than a month later, Hield made his second appearance since surgery, in Oklahoma's final game of the regular season that ended in a 70-67 loss to TCU.

The freshman, who averages 25.6 minutes per game, played 25 aggressive minutes of ball, running from defender to defender in hopes of a steal. He snagged three and added eight offensive rebounds and one defensive rebound. He finished with 10 points, two assists and one turnover.

The freshman still made some rookie decisions. With under a minute to go and Oklahoma down by five at 66-61, Hield chose a layup that looked straight out of a Hollywood movie. In Hollywood, they would have made the shot. In real life, the shot selection was not the best and the difficulty was high.

Hield missed the layup. The freshman did follow up less than 30 seconds later by tipping in a bucket to help bring the Sooners to within three at 66-63 with 27.4 seconds remaining.

The Sooners couldn't make-up any more points though and lost by three.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A HALF MAKES Oklahoma got out to a terrible start in Fort Worth. The Sooners, typically a team that shoots 44.1 percent from the floor, shot 33.3 percent in the first half. The Horned Frogs, a team that usually shoots 39.9 percent from the floor, shot 61.3 percent.

TCU was also shooting 71.4 percent from beyond the arc and making smart shot selections.

Senior Steven Pledger, who went 1-of-7 from the field and 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, shot a 3-pointer from the far left side that flew well beyond the basket and landed into the hands of a TCU defender.

The same thing happened when junior Amath M'Baye shot a 3-pointer from the almost exact spot.

Pledger and M'Baye sat the bench for much of the second half.

SOONERS IN THE COLISEUM A couple hundred Sooners made their way to TCU's Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

The Sooners, dressed in football jerseys and "There's Only One Oklahoma shirts," seemed to outnumber Horned Frogs fans.

When OU started to slip into a lull in the first half, the fans yelled, "Wake up. Play defense." Although OU lost, Sooner fans and players' parents were the last ones to leave the Coliseum. They stood around for about a half hour after the game ended talking to the players and Kruger.

TIP INS TCU last won a final regular-season home game in 2006-2007 season.

In their inaugural Big 12 season, the Horned Frogs went (2-16) In Oklahoma's last eight games, the Sooners trailed just 24 minutes. Saturday they trailed the entire game.

TCU ranks No. 239 in RPI.

QUOTABLE TCU senior Garlon Green: "I don't think we've been up 20 on a team all year. Being up 20 on a good team like Oklahoma felt really good." THE NEXT GAME Thursday vs. Iowa State at 11:30 p.m., Kansas City, Mo., Big 12 Tournament BY STEPHANIE KUZYDYM ___ (c)2013 The Oklahoman Visit The Oklahoman at www.newsok.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To Technology News's Homepage ]