University of Oklahoma Athletics
University of Oklahoma
Texas
OU Falls to UT in Big 12 Semis, 77-49
March 15, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2008
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A.J. Abrams broke out of a shooting slump with seven 3-pointers and 24 points, helping No. 6 Texas reach its third consecutive Big 12 tournament final with a 77-49 win over Oklahoma on Saturday.
Abrams kept Texas (28-5) close in a tight first half, then keyed a 14-2 run early in the second to help the Longhorns pull away for their sixth straight win over the rival Sooners.
Texas, which has lost the past two Big 12 title games to Kansas, shot 50 percent and got 17 points from D.J. Augustin to move on to Sunday's championship game against the winner between the fifth-ranked Jayhawks and Texas A&M.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma's all-Big 12 forward, bounced back from tough quarterfinal against Colorado, scoring 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds.
The rest of the Sooners, though, had another difficult game against Texas.
Oklahoma (22-11) had two of its worst-shooting games of the season against Texas this year, shooting a combined 29 percent in a pair of double-digit losses. The Sooners were only slightly better this time, shooting 33 percent and making just 4-of-23 from 3-point range for their 11th loss in the past 14 games against Texas.
Texas had to play without freshman forward Gary Johnson, who sat on the bench in a walking boot after spraining his right ankle in the first half against Oklahoma State.
Abrams picked up the slack.
The junior guard had been struggling, making just 14 of 51 shots over the previous four games. Abrams started slowly against the Sooners, missing his first four shots, then found his stroke.
He hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 7:41 left in the first half, then added two more to get 10 points by halftime - five fewer than the previous two games combined.
Abrams hit a 3-pointer from the corner to stop a 7-0 run by Oklahoma 3 minutes into the second half, then dropped another from the same spot the next time down to put the Longhorns up six. Justin Mason followed with another 3-pointer, then Augustin scored on a drive that made it 47-36.
Abrams all but put it away with 10 1/2 minutes left, hitting a 3-pointer from that same corner to put Texas up 57-42, finishing 7-for-12 from long range.
Griffin wasn't much of a factor against Colorado in the quarterfinals, scoring a season-low four points on 2-of-7 shooting in 15 minutes.
The freshman was much more aggressive this time, scoring Oklahoma's first basket, surpassing his quarterfinal point total in the first 5 1/2 minutes. Griffin later scored on an alley-oop and showed no signs of the knee problems that had been plaguing him with a vicious one-handed dunk, getting 10 points and nine rebounds by halftime.
Griffin opened the second half with a power move inside, then bulled his way past Connor Atchley to put back his own miss a little over a minute later. He also scored on an athletic move on a hard drive late, but the game was well out of reach at that point.
NOTE: The OU Athletics Ticket Office will be open Sunday, March 16, from 5 to 7 p.m. CDT for any season ticket holders who have questions regarding men's basketball postseason ticket purchases. The numbers to call are (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-4668.
