Oklahoma's defense appears to be peaking at the right time. No. 2 OU defeated No. 1 Oregon 80-68 on Saturday night, advancing the Sooners to their first Final Four since 2002.
The Sooners controlled the Ducks on the perimeter, limiting them to 19 percent shooting beyond the arc. OU also won the rebounding battle 38-32, reversing Oregon's recent hot streak on the boards.
It's defense has been far from a hallmark of this team, but for the most part, OU coach Lon Kruger's defense did enough to get the Sooners to 25 wins and a No. 2 seed in the West Regional.
But now the Sooners are in the NCAA Tournament where every game could be their last. Not just for the season, but for the core group of seniors that played an instrumental part of raising the basketball program from the ashes and into basketball prominence.
So the Sooners have instinctively turned up the urgency on the defensive end.
A little more aggressive. A little more instinctive. Cutting mistakes to a minimum.
Oklahoma’s defense was enforced from the start in its 80-68 win over Oregon. The Ducks committed seven turnovers in the first 12 minutes of play and held Daniel Brooks, Oregon’s season-leading scorer, to two points by halftime.
“I thought they opened the ballgame with good focus,” Kruger said. “I thought defensively they really did a good job early, created some turnovers that we converted to points offensively.”
The Sooners went on to eliminate the Ducks' long-range shooting and render Brooks ineffective. Oregon failed to hit 40 percent from the field and made just four of 21 three-point attempts. Brooks ended the game on the sidelines as he fouled out with just seven points on the night.
“They shot 38 percent, and when you hold a team under 40 percent, that's pretty good,” guard Buddy Hield said when asked what stood out to him on the box score.
This is the third time Oklahoma has held its opposition below the 70-point threshold in the NCAA Tournament.
Likewise, the Sooners have limited three teams under 30-percent shooting from the perimeter in March Madness play. Par for the course from the third-best three-point shooting team in the nation.
With the team heading to Houston, Texas for the Final Four, Kruger has witness his team evolve beyond a defense that gets the job done and plays well enough to win.
They have developed into a defense that can play well enough to win a championship.
