Kansas City
4-8,0-0Summit League
Oklahoma
7-2,0-0Big 12
Strong First Half Not Enough as Oklahoma Outlasts Kansas City
12/6/2022 10:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Roos played the first half to a tie, but OU made 67% of its shots in the second half to run away
NORMAN, Okla. - Twenty minutes into Kansas City Men's Basketball's game against Oklahoma this evening, the Roos showed that they were up for the fight, playing to a first half tie. The Sooners proved to be too much late, however, and Kansas City fell, 75-53, in the first-ever meeting between the two squads.
The Roos forced Oklahoma to play ugly basketball in the first half, and it worked out in Kansas City's favor. KC held the Sooners to 1-of-7 three-point shooting in the first frame and allowed OU to grab just 10 rebounds across 20 minutes of play. The Roos led by as many as nine points midway through the half, but OU whittled the lead down tied it up before half. Oklahoma proceeded to score at a 66.7% clip in the second half to take the victory.
RayQuawndis Mitchell continued his impressive play, leading Kansas City with 18 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Allen David Mukeba Jr. was the only other Roo in double-digits, finishing with 10 points. In his second start of the season, Babacar Diallo showed that he's earned his spot, securing three steals and scoring six points.
KEY MOMENTS
- 1H - 16:07 / 5-5 | After OU jumped out to a three-point lead early, Mitchell scored his first points of the day on an and-one bucket that tied the game up. The Roos would score the next five points over the span of two-plus minutes to claim the lead.
- 1H - 11:57 / 15-6 | Mukeba blocked a Sooner shot, and on the other end, Shemarri Allen found him for a bucket that capped another five-point Kansas City run and gave Kansas City its largest lead of the night at nine points.
- 1H - 7:02 / 20-18 | The Sooners used a 12-3 run to tie the game up, but Mitchell grabbed an offensive board and scored a second chance bucket to reclaim the lead for Kansas City. Neither team could gain an edge in the final seven minutes and it was a tie ball game going into the half.
- 2H - 16:45 / 30-34 | Oklahoma scored the first seven points of the second half, but Shemarri Allen put the Roos on the board with his first bucket of the night, a three-pointer. OU would respond with an 11-1 run to jump out to a double-digit lead.
- 2H - 10:14 / 41-49 | The deficit got as large as 16 points, but a pair of Diallo steal-and-scores, combined with two buckets from Allen, gave the Roos an eight-point run and brought them back within single digits.Â
2H | The timeout worked. @babacar68206069 gets the steal and the score, Roos on a six-point run ?? pic.twitter.com/weeBlJE7Nt
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) December 7, 2022
- 2H - 6:35 / 45-54 | OU expanded the lead back out to 13, but a jumper by Diallo and a drop-step layup by Mukeba brought the Roos back within nine points, as close as it would get for the rest of the game. The Sooners went on a 14-1 run over the next three minutes to put the game out of reach.
STATS TO NOTE
- After out-rebounding the Sooners by eight in the first half, the Roos ended the game with a 31-27 edge on the boards. Kansas City turned 13 offensive rebounds into eight points, compared to just three offensive boards for the Sooners.
- Kansas City held Oklahoma to just 1-of-7 three-point shooting in the first half, but the Sooners knocked down 6-of-10 shots from long range in the second half to finish the game with a 41.2% three-point clip.
- All 11 Roos that saw the floor pulled down at least one rebound. Mukeba and Promise C. Idiaru led the team with five each.
- Across the 13-1 run that allowed Kansas City to claim a nine-point lead in the first half, the Roos held Oklahoma to 0-of-4 shooting and forced one turnover.
- Tonight's game was the final of the Roos' four games against Power Five opponents, the most such games in a single season since 2015-16.
COACH MARVIN MENZIES, QUOTED
"The first half, we felt like we could play with them for the whole game, and then they had a couple big players that just stepped up and did what they were supposed to do in the second half."
"(The young players) tasted what it was like to come in and play high-level defense. They're starting to make incremental steps of understanding how hard you have to play at this level. That's where there's a lot of value in playing these kind of games."
UP NEXT
The Roos remain on the road this weekend, taking on Green Bay on Saturday at 7 p.m. before opening Summit League play at home on Dec. 19.
