Kristian Doolittle scored 28 points, including the tying and winning baskets among his 18 point in the second half, as visiting Oklahoma came from behind to beat North Texas 82-80 on Thursday in Denton, Texas.
North Texas led 78-76 after a jumper by Zachary Simmons with 2:17 to play. Doolittle tied the game for OU on a jumper with 1:08 left and poured in a 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining to provide the Sooners the winning margin.
Umoja Gibson had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but his 3-pointer bounced off the rim and out.
Austin Reaves added 22 points for the Sooners (7-1) while Brady Manek scored 16 and De'Vion Harmon scored 11 for Oklahoma.
The Sooners came into the game off a win over Missouri in the third-place game at the Hall of Fame Classic but were ragged, at least early on, after nine days off.
Gibson paced the Mean Green (3-6) with 21 points, with James Reese adding 13 and Javion Hamlet scoring 10 points.
North Texas led for the majority of the first half, outshooting Oklahoma 51.5 to 43.3 percent over the first 20 minutes and taking a 41-36 advantage to intermission. Gibson paced all scorers with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Doolittle led the Sooners with 10 points in the first half.
The Sooners cut their deficit to 51-49 on a jumper by Doolittle with 15:48 to play before the Mean Green forged a 15-7 run over the following 3 1/2 minutes to assume a 66-56 advantage.
Oklahoma rallied to tie the game at 66 with 7:43 to play on a free throw by Reaves and things went back and forth the rest of the way.
The two teams had played seven times previously since 1960, with the Sooners owning a 6-1 advantage as all seven games were played in Norman, Oklahoma.
--Field Level Media
Oklahoma | North Texas | |
Kristian Doolittle 28 | Scoring | Umoja Gibson 21 |
Jamal Bieniemy 5 | Assists | Zachary Simmons 4 |
Brady Manek 8 | Rebounds | Thomas Bell 9 |
Austin Reaves 12 | Free Throws Made | James Reese 3 |
Jamal Bieniemy 2 | Steals | Umoja Gibson 1 |
Victor Iwuakor 1 | Blocks | Deng Geu 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Oklahoma | 82 | 50.0 | 9-24 | 19-25 | 12 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 8 |
North Texas | 80 | 49.2 | 10-32 | 12-13 | 11 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 12 |