Osetkowski, Bamba lift men’s basketball to sweep of No. 23 Oklahoma

By Steve Lansdale

NORMAN, Okla. — Junior forward Dylan Osetkowski scored a team-high 21 points and freshman forward Mohamed Bamba pulled down a game-high 18 rebounds to lead the Texas men’s basketball team to a 77-66 road victory Saturday over No. 23 Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble center in Norman, Okla.

The victory gives UT, which improved to 16-11 overall and 6-8 against Big 12 opponents, its first season sweep of the Sooners since 2011-12. It marked the fourth time this season the Longhorns have knocked off a team ranked in the Associated Press top 25, and gave the team its first true road victory over a team in the AP top 25 since UT edged then-No. 15 Baylor, 67-59, Feb. 1, 2016. Texas last beat the Sooners in Norman in 2012. With the loss, OU’s record fell to 16-10 overall, and 6-8 in Big 12 games.

Bamba complemented his 18 rebounds with [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]10 points to pick up his 14^th double-double of the season, and added four blocked shots, while Osetkowski cracked the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season. Also scoring in double digits were guards Kerwin Roach II (12 points) and Matt Coleman (11). For Roach, the game marked the 42^nd time in 90 career games that he has scored 10 or more points.

Texas benefitted from a strong defensive performance that limited OU to 30.8 percent shooting from the floor (the Sooners connected on 20 of 65 field goal attempts), and just 26.7 percent (8 of 30) from three-point range.

Oklahoma freshman sensation Trae Young led all scorers with 26 points, but had to work for his points, hitting 7 of 21 shots from the floor and three of 10 from long range, but the 66 points were the fewest OU has scored in a game this season and more than 22 points below their average this season. The Sooners entered the game as the nation’s top scoring team, with an average of 88.4 points per game.

The Longhorns will be back in action Wednesday, when take on Kansas State at 7 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas, in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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