Sooners Sink Texas, 67-51

March 9, 2002

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By STEVE BRISENDINE
Associated Press Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Oklahoma might be one win away from a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Aaron McGhee had 16 points and 15 rebounds as the fourth-ranked Sooners (26-4) overcame another poor shooting performance and beat Texas 67-51 in the Big 12 tournament semifinals Saturday.

Oklahoma plays No. 1 Kansas in the championship game Sunday, and a victory could wrap up a top seed in the NCAAs.

Not bad for a team that was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 before the season.

"I think you have to earn the right to be good," Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson said.

"This team, back in October and November, had good parts. I think one of the strengths of our program is getting those parts to play the right way, to make themselves a team. That's the thing I've really liked about these kids. They've made themselves a great team."

One example, Sampson said, is how much McGhee's defensive game has improved since he transferred from Vincennes, a two-year school in Indiana, after spending a year at Cincinnati.

"That whole end of the floor - defensive rebounding, playing hard on defense, hustling - he didn't understand any of that when he came here, because his whole identity was offense," Sampson said.

"That's why he's such a great story. He's made tremendous improvement in the toughest area of the game."

McGhee held Texas center James Thomas to one point and three offensive rebounds, after Thomas had 11 points and 10 rebounds in Texas' 89-85 quarterfinal win over Missouri on Friday.

"I just tried to stay in front of him and limit his touches," said McGhee, who had 11 defensive rebounds on Saturday and has 31 boards in two tournament games.

"He's difficult to control down low, but as long as you stay in front of him he's not as difficult."

Oklahoma also limited Brandon Mouton, who scored 19 points against Missouri, to one point Saturday. The Sooners forced 22 turnovers, grabbed 12 steals and held Texas (20-11) to 38 percent shooting from the field (18-for-48).

"We played just awful," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I wanted to leave. I wanted to get thrown out of the game."

Nobody got tossed, but there were three technical fouls called within a minute early in the second half.

Texas' Brian Boddicker drew the first with 18:23 left, after Oklahoma's Hollis Price - angry at being called for traveling when he thought he had been fouled - waded into a crowd of Texas players and was shoved to the floor.

Forty-six seconds later, McGhee was fouled by Texas' Deginald Erskin at the other end of the floor and both were given technicals for the subsequent confrontation. The technical against Erskin counted as his fourth personal.

Ebi Ere and Jason Detrick added 15 points each for the defending tournament champions, who overcame their second poor shooting performance in as many days.

Ere and Detrick hit three 3-pointers each as the Sooners shot 10-for-21 from long range, including 8-for-15 in the first half.

Oklahoma hit only 39 percent (14-for-36) of its 2-point shots, though, and its 50 percent (9-for-18) shooting from the free-throw line was its worst this season.

The Sooners, who shot just 32 percent from the field in a 63-52 quarterfinal win over Kansas State, can't afford to go cold against the Jayhawks on Sunday.

"You play Kansas, you've got to make your baskets," Sampson said. "You're not going to stop them, so you've got to score on your shots. You go on a two- or three-minute drought against them, the game can get out of control."

As poorly as the Sooners shot the ball, Texas was worse. In addition to their struggles from the floor, the Longhorns shot a season-low 44 percent (11-for-25) from the free-throw line.

Freshman T.J. Ford led the Longhorns with 18 points but had only two assists after handing out 10 against Missouri. Erskin added 10 points for Texas despite playing most of the second half with four fouls.

The Longhorns struggled offensively from the outset, missing nine of their first 12 shots and committing 14 first-half turnovers.

Ere hit his first three 3-point attempts, and Detrick made his first two as Oklahoma built a 38-23 halftime lead. The Sooners led by as many as 22 points, 67-45, on Joszef Szendrei's basket with 2:41 left.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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