Texas falls to Oklahoma, 73-67

Romero Osby, possessed by powerful basketball playing demons, dropped 29 points on the Texas Longhorns, leading the Sooners to a 73-67 victory.

On the Texas side, Sheldon McClellan had one of his best games of the year, scoring 25, and Ioannis Papapetrou chipped in with 12 points of his own.

Texas briefly made things interesting, when with 1:29 to play the 6-8 Papapetrou came away with the ball in a scramble under the basket, and then stepped out and buried a three to set the score at 69-65. But that was as close as things would get, as Texas was unable to score in the following two possessions, while Lon Kruger's team sealed the game away at the line.

The game got off to a rough start, with both teams trading turnovers for much of the first half. In the second half, both teams pulled their offenses together, and Osby and McClellan went to work.

McClellan had a nice game, in part because he was attacking the basket off the dribble. This is something that we haven't seen much of lately. When McClellan is set to shoot from three he can be effective, but the full potential of his game is to be more than just a jump shooter. McClellan put the ball on the deck, and wasn't shooting nearly as many fade away shots coming off of pin down screens. This is a nice shift for him, and if it continues will help him considerably.

Prince Ibeh also played well in limited minutes, going 4-4 from the field to score eight points in 16 minutes.

Romero Osby's performance highlights a problem for this Texas team on defense -- perhaps the only problem. The Longhorns struggle to contain skilled big men who can attack the basket from the perimeter and shoot the rock. Georges Niang of Iowa State gave the Texas D fits a few weeks ago in Ames, but Osby was an even bigger problem tonight. Osby's confidence seemed to grow as the game went on; he clearly could do no wrong with the ball in his hands.

In a discouraging bit of news, Texas forward Jonathan Holmes only played eight minutes before leaving the game with an injury. When he later returned from the locker room, he had a large wrap on his right hand and the school later revealed that he broke his hand. This isn't a good sign, as Holmes has been one of Texas' more effective players this season, and has been coming into his own on offense in recent weeks.

Texas now is 0-5 in conference play. Texas Tech comes to Austin next Saturday, when the Horns will look to break their losing streak.