The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Their first meeting produced a game for the ages, and in the much anticipated rematch, the No 6 Kansas Jayhawks once again got the best of Buddy Hield and the No 3 Oklahoma Sooners.

The Jayhawks escaped the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma with a 76-72 on Saturday to complete the regular season series sweep.

With 32 seconds left to play and Oklahoma trailing 73-71, Hield made the first of two free throws but missed the second with an opportunity to tie. Kansas would make free throws down the stretch to put the game away for good.

Hield still finished with 24 points on 5-15 shooting, 5-11 from three point range. The late game free throw miss was his only miss at the line all game where he finished 9-10.

The Sooners fell to 20-4 while the Jayhawks improved to 21-4.

As expected, Hield, the second leading scorer in NCAA Division I, was the focus of the Jayhawks defence the entire afternoon.

“I had good shots in the first half, and I wasn’t able to put them down,” Hield said. “They guarded me really well and threw a lot of bodies at me. I don’t feel pressure. I just know when I touch the ball everyone is collapsing on me. I’m trying not to make the wrong play, and guys are open.

“I was trying to feel out and see what they were doing. I had good shots in the first half, and I didn’t put them down. They guarded me really well, throwing a lot of bodies at me. I had some

good shots, I just should have made them in the first half.”

Kansas led 20-6 early in the game and Hield’s early shooting drought lasted until the nine minute mark in the first half. He rebounded to score 18 of his 24 in the second half.

“We’ve just got to step up and make shots early,” Hield said, “We’re always used to making shots early, and getting out on teams, and we haven’t been doing that lately. We just have to do a better job and it starts with me, Ryan (Spangler) and Isaiah (Cousins) getting every one together and making shots.”

Kansas won the first meeting 109-106 in triple overtime in early January when Hield dropped a career high 46 points. He said that game set the stage for his team’s confidence and expectations to win headed into game two.

“For sure, that’s how our confidence is as a group. They did a lot of things to win the game. We missed opportunities to box out, things like that,” he said, “It was a learning experience and we have to find a way to get one back and hopefully see them again in the Big 12 Tournament.”

Sooners head coach Lon Kruger said with the increased attention defences will give Hield, his team will be forced to adjust as teams gear up for postseason tournaments.

“Well that’s what people are doing now. They’re going to stay on Buddy and not leave him, and Buddy has realized that the last couple of games. He kept working, kept battling and made some big buckets in the second half.,” he said, “We’ve got to get a little better movement and be more patient offensively, but we’re not going to go a long way away from what we’ve done to get to this point. People are going to try to guard us a little better so we’ve got to win some battles, set better screens, use screens a little better and finish some opportunities.”

Hield extended his school record for three-point field goals made to 303. Which made him the first paler in school history to hit 300 three-pointers in a career. He has hit 101 threes this season, which is already eight more than he recorded all of last season. He needs five more threes to break the Sooners single-season record held by Nate Erdmann (105, 1996-97). He has 10 games this season with at least five triples.