The Texas Longhorns extended their winning streak at Lloyd Noble Center to seven games with Saturday’s 79-69 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry after overcoming a 14-point deficit in the first half by shooting 75 percent after halftime.
Junior wing Dailyn Swain scored 11 of his team-high 20 points over the final 10 minutes as the Longhorns closed the game on a 9-2 run and four other Texas players reached double figures, led by junior forward Cam Heide, who hit three big threes
and finished 5-of-6 shooting.
Head coach Sean Miller also received a boost off the bench from junior guard Simeon Wilcher, whose 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting marked his first double-digit scoring performance since scoring 10 points in the blowout loss to Tennessee. The St. John’s transfer had only scored nine combined points in the six games since that defeat, including back-to-back scoreless outings.
With eight points from senior guard Chendall Weaver, Texas had a rare advantage in bench points in addition to a 42-28 edge in points in the paint.
The foul virus didn’t plague Texas to start the game, but other defensive issues did as Miller was forced to call a timeout before the stoppage for the under-16 timeout because the Longhorns had already fallen behind 13-4 thanks to 1-of-5 shooting and two turnovers and allowing the Sooners to get off to a hot start by hitting 5-of-7 shots, including three triples, and going on an 8-0 run over 1:34.
Texas wasn’t able to bounce back immediately, falling behind 23-9 because of a 1-of-9 shooting stretch, but Oklahoma did finally start to cool off before the under-eight timeout, missing four straight shots as the Horns found some footing offensively with the help of Weaver off the bench. Weaver hit two push shots in the lane and then made his eighth three of the season. Combined with a layup by sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis off a short roll, Texas was suddenly in the midst of a 4-of-5 shooting stretch to cut the deficit to seven points.
Despite six straight made shots by the Horns heading into the final media timeout of the half, the momentum had stalled because of two straight turnovers and an open three given up to Nijel Pack when Swain went for a steal he didn’t come up with after Texas failed to come up with a loose ball on a missed shot.
Out of the timeout, however, the Longhorns quickly cut the deficit to a single point when Wilcher scored in the lane on a drive and Heide got a slam from the dunker’s spot and then hit a three in transition. An airballed three by graduate guard Tramon Mark with a little more than a minute remaining in the half ended the streak of nine straight made baskets by Texas.
A late three by Oklahoma gave the Sooners a 33-30 lead at halftime, the fifth made three of the half for the home team as the Horns went 2-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc over the opening 20 minutes.
Both teams traded threes to open the second half, including another three by Heide on a good skip pass out of a double team by Vokietaitis, who hit a layup on the next Texas possession by sealing the fronting defender. In a rare instance of Heide using his shot credibility to produce a drive, the Purdue transfer hung in the air for a nice finish at the rim.
The game settled into a close affair by the under-16 timeout, although the Longhorns hadn’t been able to push through for their first lead of the game despite 4-of-5 shooting to open the half. It finally happened when Swain converted a trip to the free-throw line, but the Sooners quickly responded with a corner three to regain the edge.
A critical stretch came close to midway through the first half when Weaver was called for a questionable flagrant foul when he jumped early trying to block a shot and landed on the Oklahoma player. The Sooners were’t able to capitalize at the line, but hit a jumper on the extra possession afforded by the call, then made two more to take a six-point lead when Miller called a timeout with 10:12 remaining hoping to keep the game from getting out of reach.
Another important call happened after the timeout when Swain banked in a shot and got a questionable block call in a three-point swing. Shortly thereafter, a bounce went in favor of Oklahoma when a loose ball was swatted away from the basket and into the hands of Xzayvier Brown, who drained the three to extend the lead back to six points at the under-six timeout.
The game remained back-and-forth out of the timeout when a skip pass from Swain found Heide for an open three and Wilcher drove for a bank shot from the left side, cutting the deficit to one point and forcing a timeout by Porter Moser, suddenly worried about his team’s momentum and propensity for making losing plays.
When play resumed, Heide had to go to the bench with his first foul for dumping an Oklahoma playing trying to box out, but Texas gained a rare lead when Swain capped a 7-0 run with a driving dunk, a surge ended when a steal turned into a put back by the Sooners. Wilcher put the Horns back into the lead by rattling home a corner three with 5:34 remaining on another assist by Swain, whose surge continued with a subsequent hesitation move and left-handed finish. When a good screen by graduate forward Lassina Traore freed senior guard Jordan Pope for an open three, the five-point lead was the largest of the game for the Horns, prompting another timeout by Moser.
In the type of play that Texas tends to make, Dalton Forsythe fouled Pope on a made three, although the Oregon State transfer couldn’t complete the four-point play at the line. On the other end, good on-ball defense by Wilcher forced back-to-back airballed threes by Pack. Working in the paint, Swain absorbed contact to hit a short jumper to extend the lead to seven points with 1:32 remaining.
Oklahoma responded with two made free throws and when the Sooners sent Wilcher to the line, Traore was called for a lane violation on the first three throw, a make by the 95-percent shooter. The Sooners missed two more threes in the midst of a three-minute scoring drought with Swain finally converting at the line to make it an eight-point game.
By that point, the outcome was sealed as the Longhorns picked up a critical Quad 1 victory and the team’s first road win in three weeks.
Texas returns to the Moody Center on Tuesday to face South Carolina in the most winnable game left on the regular-season schedule.
