Otega Oweh, Rivaldo Soares and Porter Moser

Sophomore guard Otega Oweh, senior guard Rivaldo Soares and OU basketball head coach Porter Moser during the game against Cincinnati on March 5.

 Bob Nguyen/OU Daily

Oklahoma (20-10, 8-9 Big 12) beat Cincinnati (17-13, 6-11) 74-71 in overtime at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman on Tuesday.

In the Sooners last Big 12 game at home, they struggled against the Bearcats on both ends of the court and failed to string together productive possessions. Redshirt senior guard Le’Tre Darthard earned his first start of the season and led OU with 18 points off a 2 of 4 effort from the 3-point line and 12 of 14 shooting from the free throw line.

Here are three takeaways from the OU’s win:

OU can’t take care of the ball

Before practice on Monday, head coach Porter Moser emphasized how important it was for OU to take care of the ball against Cincinnati.

However, the Bearcats pushed the Sooners deep into the shot clock and had active hands in the passing lane from start to finish.

In the first half, OU committed seven turnovers and allowed Cincinnati to tally five steals. Despite a poor offensive performance by both teams, the Sooners gave up easy baskets off of mistakes. The Bearcats had six fast break points and seven points off turnovers.

After halftime, the Sooners' sloppy play continued.

Oklahoma allowed the Bearcats to grab 13 offensive rebounds in the second half and gave up 35 rebounds during the game. OU was outrebounded 35-32.

The Sooners finished the night with 15 turnovers and allowed Cincinnati to grab 11 steals.

“You gotta credit Cincinnati,” Moser said postgame. “Those guards are physical, they take you out of a lot of stuff.”

Milos Uzan struggles, Moore and Soares support

Sophomore guard Milos Uzan has been one of the Sooners’ most dependable players this season in terms of taking care of the ball, not fouling and finishing through contact around the rim.

That was not the case against Cincinnati.

Uzan is shooting 42.4% from the floor and 34.3% from the 3-point line. He also averages 8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds 4.3 assists and 31.3 minutes a game.

Against the Bearcats Uzan could not find his footing after starting the game 0 of 3. In the second half, the guard went 1 of 10 from the floor, 0 of 2 from beyond the arc and had four turnovers. He also fouled out in the final minutes of regulation.

“They lose Javian and then Los (Uzan) fouls out,” Moser said. “We are playing with no point guards. The guts of Rivaldo and those guys that were on the floor at the end, they found a way to win.”

Despite Uzan’s offensive slump, redshirt senior guard Rivaldo Soares and junior guard Jalon Moore stepped up. Soares finished the night with 16 points, shot 5 of 7 and 3 of 5 from the 3-point line and had nine rebounds. Moore had 16 points and seven boards.

“I don’t have too many words, this feeling is inexplicable,” Soares said. “I mean that’s our team and it’s our last home game.”

The Sooners finished the game shooting 36%, 6 of 14 from the 3-point line and 28 of 34 at the free-throw line.

Javian McCollum out

Junior guard Javian McCollum was out during OU’s matchup against Cincinnati.

Before Tuesday’s game, the Sooners’ play-by-play announcer Toby Rowland confirmed that McCollum was hurt in practice on Monday and will be a day-to-day decision.

“It happened yesterday,” Moser said. “Monday you had to get a little work in and it was just kind of a freak thing with his shoulder…The X-rays turned out negative, but it was just sore in the morning and he didn’t have a range of motion.”

The guard has started every game he has played in for OU this season and is averaging 13.6 points and 2.6 rebounds a game and has dished out 99 assists through 29 games.

With McCollum out the Sooners had to make adjustments to the lineup. Darthard replaced McCollum and earned his first start of the year. Moser consistently rotated redshirt freshman guard Luke Northweather, sophomore guard Otega Oweh and redshirt senior guard Maks Klanjseck off the bench.

“He (Klanjseck) is older, and he is been through a lot and that is kind of the reason we wanted him here,” Moser said. “We took Maks to have a third point guard…But I thought he did some good things and got seven key points for us.”

Northweather, Oweh and Klanjseck combined for eight rebounds and 16 points, shooting 5 of 15 from the floor.

Darthard would hit a 3-pointer to give OU the chance to go to overtime and allow OU to earn a three-point win.

“I was just trying to win,” Darthard said. “I just wanted to win so bad. I wanted to make up for Houston.”

Next, Oklahoma will play Texas (19-11, 8-9 Big 12) at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Moody Center in Austin on ESPN.

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