Oklahoma Rolls Past No. 1 Kansas

Oklahoma beat the No. 1 team in the country for the second time in three days Tuesday night with an easy 100-78 victory’over Kansas.

The fifth-ranked Sooners (22-4) had beaten then-No. 1 Missouri 107-90 on Sunday and the outcome was even more convincing against the Jayhawks (27-3).

The wins extended Oklahoma’s homecourt winning streak to 45 games and the latest was played before a record crowd of 12,166 at Lloyd Noble Center.

Oklahoma used some impressive defense to force a season-high 26 turnovers and hand Kansas its first loss to any team other than Missouri.

The win also pulled the Sooners even with Kansas in the Big Eight standings at 10-3, one game behind first-place Missouri.

Skeeter Henry, playing his final home game, led the Sooners with 23 points. William Davis and reserve guard Terry Evans had 22 each.

Kansas, which committed a previous season-high 21 turnovers in its 85-74 win over the Sooners on Feb. 3, had 16 in the first half. It only seemed each led directly to an Oklahoma score.

Evans, who had 15 points and 12 assists against Missouri, came into the game with 11:22 left in the half when starting point guard Smokey McCovery’picked up his second foul.

Everything changed right there.

The Sooners went on a 23-4 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes for a 24-point lead in a building where they haven’t lost in three years. The last home loss was on Feb. 27, 1987 to Kansas State.

Evans immediately forced a turnover on an inbounds pass and then scored on a short jumper for the first points of the run.

He set up the next points, a layup by Davis, with another steal.

The next five Sooners baskets all came as a result of Kansas turnovers. They came thanks to the press, something Coach Billy Tubbs had gotten away from recently; tenacious halfcourt man-to-man defense; and in the open court, where it often seemed there were more Sooners than Jayhawks on the court.

The run ended with Henry scoring on a long layup after, yes, another’Kansas turnover, this one by Mark Randall at the Jayhawks’ basket.

Kansas did come back with a 14-2 run to make it 41-31 with 53 seconds left in the half. But Evans nailed a 3-pointer and Davis made two free throws before Pekka Markanen of Kansas ended the half with a three-point play to make it 48-34.

Oklahoma handled each of Kansasg mini-runs in the second half as the Jayhawks got within 14 and 13 points twice each. But the Sooners were able to turn things around with 3-pointers, two by Evans and one by Damon Patterson.

The largest lead was 71-45 with 13:24 left on a dunk by Henry after he had stolen the ball from Kevin Pritchard.

Pritchard led Kansas with 16 points, all but two in the second half, and Randall had 14.