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Sooners Justify Ranking, Spank Knight's Raiders by Justin Waganer Senior Sports Writer January 12, 2002
Bobby Knight, welcome to the Big 12. On Saturday afternoon, the Sooners proved once again that they are deserving of their number five ranking by pummeling Texas Tech 98-72. Hollis Price set the nets on fire with 27 (6-7 from 3-point land) and Ebi Ere showed his dominance with a 25 point outing, including 20 in the first half.
When the AP poll was released on Monday, one couldn't help but wonder if Oklahoma was deserving of its number five spot or if this lofty status was thanks to a hot streak that would soon fade. After another impressive road win at Connecticut, on Monday night, and a solid thrashing of Texas Tech on Saturday, Oklahoma is not just worthy of this ranking, they may not relinquish it.
In front of a raucous 12, 654 fans in Norman, Oklahoma just kept driving to the hoop offensively and creating chaos defensively, keeping Texas Tech out of any kind of rhythm on either end. The General agreed.
"We just got exploited in every way we could and got beat by a better basketball team today. Oklahoma is a really good team across the board. Give me a thing that you do, say rebound. They can rebound. Quick, they're very quick. Play defense, they played really good defense. Shoot the ball, they shot the ball extremely well today. They didn't just shoot the ball well today, they shoot good all the time. They present problems for you on the defensive end and they get after you on their offensive end," said Knight after his team's 10-game win streak was snapped.
The reason the Sooners have taken off like they have recently is do to several different players stepping up into roles that any good team needs to fulfill, perhaps the most impressive turnaround is Ebi Ere. Ere had 24 points and nine rebounds against Connecticut on Monday and had 25 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes, not to mention his improving defense.
"Coach teaches us to penetrate and look for the open shot. If it's not there, there has to be someone open, so I try my best to look for open teammates. I want to do all the little things that will help this team. I do look to score first, but sometimes, when one of my teammates is open, I have to get it to them," said Ere after his exciting Saturday performance.
Oklahoma plays next at Nebraska on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised locally on the Sooner Sports Network.
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