Oklahoma refused to let Iowa State forward Royce White beat them. So his teammates did it themselves.
The Cyclones' sharp shooting sparked ISU’s 77-70 win over the Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday night. ISU shot 15 of 30 (50 percent) from the three-point line including 10 of 18 in the first half.
ISU’s opponent-record shooting from beyond the arc overshadowed a career-high 27 points from Andrew Fitzgerald.
The Sooners handled ISU’s three-point explosion well, hanging in the game throughout and getting within a single possession with 1:15 left in the game but point guard Sam Grooms lost the ball, committing a crucial turnover with the Sooners down 73-70.
OU never scored again.
Player of the Game: Fitzgerald was 11 of 19 shooting from the field and 5 of 5 from the free throw line to score his 27 points. He added three rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and one turnover.
Unsung Hero: Romero Osby. The junior was incredibly consistent with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the field. He did a solid job battling White defensively but only grabbed four rebounds.
Key Stat: 7. White’s assist total showed the patience from ISU’s star forward as he accepted OU’s double teaming game plan and was content setting his teammates up for open shots. His first and only field goal came with 1:39 remaining in the game.
Quotable: “I just mishandled the ball. There’s no other way to explain it. I mishandled the ball, cost my team a play and a chance to get a shot off at the rim.” - OU point guard Sam Grooms on his late turnover
“It’s frustrating. It seems like they were just making everything today. Every time we’d go for the rebound and the ball was going through the net.” - Osby on ISU’s sharp shooting
“That’s who Royce is. He’s not the guy who goes in there and tries to force it up. He’d rather get an assist than a basket and tonight showed that.” - Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg
“They had a lot of open looks. We wanted to give some help on [Royce] White, of course, but not any more that would keep us from getting back to the shooters. If you go a little bit too far, you don’t have good recovery. We have to do all that better; we didn’t handle that as well as we needed to.” - Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger
Up Next: Host Missouri at Lloyd Noble Center on Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. CT