OU men's basketball: Sooners take early lead, can't withstand late run in loss to Villanova

Dec. 3—Despite Villanova's late 16-7 run, Oklahoma still had a chance to force overtime.

Down three with 10 seconds left, OU point guard Grant Sherfield shook loose of the Villanova defense and found himself open from the 3-point line.

Sherfield had been the Sooners' main source of offense against the Wildcats. But his shot missed left off the rim, and the Wildcats secured the rebound with two seconds to go.

Villanova forward Brandon Slater made one of his two free throw attempts, sealing the Sooners' 70-66 loss at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The loss drops the Sooners to 6-2 on the season and ends a six-game winning streak. The Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak with the win.

Here's three takeaways from the Sooners' close loss to the Wildcats:

1. Sooners take early lead but can't hang on

The Sooners came out firing to start the game.

They made six of their first nine shot attempts, including two 3-pointers from Jacob Groves, to take an early 20-9 lead. But that didn't last long.

After Bijan Cortes' 3-pointer at the 13:18 mark of the first half, the Sooners went scoreless for the next eight minutes. A Sherfield 3-pointer broke the cold stretch at the 5:09 mark, but the Wildcats managed to cut the deficit to 23-19.

Crucial baskets from Sherfield and Tanner Groves kept the Wildcats at bay, but the Sooners took just a 32-30 lead into halftime.

The Wildcats kept fighting in the second half behind hot shooting in the second half. They shot 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the floor, 4-of-9 (44 percent) from the 3-point line and 10-of-13 (77 percent) from the charity stripe.

After shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half, including 6-of-11 from 3, the Sooners dropped to 46 percent in the second half and 33 percent from the 3-point line.

Caleb Slater led the Wildcats with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

The Sooners held the lead for over 30 minutes of game time. But the game saw seven lead changes and five ties, most of them coming in the second half.

2. Sherfield carries offensive load

If it hadn't been for the Sooners' point guard, Villanova may have pulled away earlier in the second half.

Sherfield played 38 minutes, finishing with a plus-minus of one, and led the Sooners in scoring with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, adding four rebounds and four steals. He routinely made tough shots at the end of the shot clock to keep the Sooners in the game.

His 3-pointer with 6:41 to go gave the Sooners a 59-53 lead, but the team scored just seven points the rest of the game.

Tanner Groves and Jacob Groves each added 14 points. The rest of the team added just 17 points.

3. Joe Bamisile again a non-factor

The highly-touted transfer from George Washington has struggled to find a rhythm early in the season.

That continued against the Wildcats, as Bamisile finished scoreless in just six minutes with three rebounds and two turnovers. Bamisile played less than a minute in the second half.

On the season, Bamisile is averaging 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game.

Bijan Cortes, who played a pivotal role in the Sooners' win over Ole Miss last weekend, was on the floor for big minutes. In 20 minutes, Cortes finished with six points, two rebounds, four assists and a steal.

4. Sooners win the battle of the boards

Despite the loss, the Sooners recorded a huge rebounding advantage.

They outrebounded the Wildcats 31-19 and held a 12-2 advantage on the offensive glass. Tanner Groves led the way with seven rebounds, and bench forward Sam Godwin finished with a team-high three offensive rebounds.

However, the 12 offensive rebounds only led to seven second-chance points for the Sooners.

Up next: The Sooners return home for a game against Kansas City at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Jesse Crittenden is the sports editor of The Transcript and covers OU athletics. Reach him at jesse@normantranscript.com or at 405-366-3580