Men's Basketball Tops Red Raiders, 80-72

Feb. 7, 2001

Quotes

By OWEN CANFIELD
AP Sports Writer

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma's J.R. Raymond is in the kind of groove where even bad decisions come out looking good.

Raymond, who had averaged 20.6 points during the 21st-ranked Sooners' five-game winning streak, had a poor shooting night Wednesday but came up with a clutch 3-pointer to help hold off Texas Tech 80-72.

Raymond, who had missed eight of his 10 3-point tries, hit from deep in the left corner with 30 seconds left to make it 76-73. It came fewer than 10 seconds after Tech's Jayson Mitchell had missed at the other end.

"I admired his courage," coach Kelvin Sampson said. "But his decision-making, his choice of shots in that situation, wasn't real high on my smartness list.

"That's kind of a roundabout way of saying I could not believe he shot that."

Raymond finished with 19 points, and Daryan Selvy had 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for Oklahoma (18-4, 7-3 Big 12).

The Sooners outscored Texas Tech 13-3 in the final 2:23 after the Red Raiders (8-11, 2-6) had erased a nine-point second-half deficit. Texas Tech has lost four in a row since handing the Sooners their last loss, 69-60, on Jan. 16.

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda," coach James Dickey said. "We didn't play well enough down the stretch to win.

"This league in close games is about executing possessions both offensively and defensively. Down the stretch, I thought they did and we didn't."

Selvy had not scored in double figures in the past seven games and was scoreless in the past two. But he had a key rebound and putback with 55.7 seconds left to give the Sooners a 73-70 lead.

After Mitchell airballed a 3-point try from the right corner, Raymond went right to the other end and sank his 3. Raymond sealed it with two free throws and a jumper in the final 16 seconds.

"I had played awful the last two games," Selvy said. "I wanted to win the game bad. I wanted to go out and get every rebound I could get, do all the little things, and that's what I did."

The Sooners only shot 37 percent, but outrebounded Tech 47-36 - including a 26-10 advantage in offensive boards - and held the Red Raiders without a field goal in the final 3 1/2 minutes.

Back-to-back baskets by Selvy gave Oklahoma a 59-50 lead with 9:10 remaining, but Tech rallied behind Mitchell to take the lead. Mitchell, who had 16, scored inside with 3:42 left to make it 69-67. But it was all Oklahoma after that.

"I wasn't shocked at anything that happened tonight. Texas Tech is capable," Sampson said.

"The thing I like is that we shoot 37 percent and win. That's a huge positive this time of year, because a lot of teams when they have bad shooting nights, they pay for it by losing. We had a poor shooting night and still won."

Oklahoma got two 3-pointers from Kelley Newton, another from Aaron McGhee and a three-point play by Nolan Johnson in a 14-0 run that made the score 22-10 midway through the first half.

The Red Raiders worked their way back into it by getting better shots and playing better defense. They held Oklahoma to one field goal in the final 3 1/2 minutes to get within 37-35 at halftime.

Johnson scored 15 and McGhee had 13 for Oklahoma. Andre Emmett had 15 for the Red Raiders.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Tops Red Raiders, 80-72

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