@unco_mbb Battles but Comes up Short at Oklahoma

Tuesday, November 29

Norman, OK

6:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

2-5

University of Oklahoma

5-1

Northern Colorado

Oklahoma

11/29/2016 8:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

NORMAN, Okla. – Northern Colorado (2-5, 0-0) once again proved it can play with tough competition. The Bears held Oklahoma (5-1, 0-0) to a single digit lead for 34 minutes until UNC ran out of gas and the Sooners pulled away for an 87-66 victory.

How It Happened:
UNC led just once in the first half after a junior guard, DJ Miles three-ball 90 seconds into the game, making it 3-2 in favor of the Bears. The lead was short lived, yet UNC never let the game get out of hand, trailing by single digits for the majority of the first act.

The largest the Sooners ever built their lead to 10 points, but every time it looked as OU was starting to pull away, the Bears retaliated.

In his first game back from an ankle injury, redshirt sophomore guard, Chaz Glotta came off the bench and made an immediate impact. Glotta converted on the old-fashioned three-point play with 12:01 to play, cutting the OU lead to three (18-15). However, Glotta's time on the court was short lived as he picked up three quick fouls and headed back to the bench for the remainder of the half.

Oklahoma played the next 10 minutes with a six to eight-point cushion before a Dante Buford trey made it a double-digit deficit for UNC, 38-28 with 2:24 to play.

Northern Colorado ended the half with three straight makes from beyond the arc, two from redshirt freshman guard, Jonah Radebaugh and one from sophomore guard, Jordan Davis to make it just a six-point game, 40-34 at the break.

The Bears were able to hang around despite shooting just 37% (13-of-35) from the field, compared to the 53% (16-of-30) that OU posted. Northern Colorado did knock down five three-pointers, accounting for 15 of its 34 first half points.

UNC punched back to start the second half, with a five quick points on three-ball from Miles and a steal and lay-in from Davis, cutting the OU lead down to one, 40-39.

The game would be no closer for the remainder of the period, but the Bears continued to keep within striking distance.

Glotta returned to action and quickly put up seven points with a free throw and back-to-back threes to make it 55-52 with 11:40 to play.

The Sooners pushed the lead to double figures (63-52) on an 8-0 run with roughly eight minutes remaining, a deficit UNC was able to comeback from.

The Bears clawed the OU advantage back down to single digits two more times before Oklahoma opened the flood gates and secured the win.

Davis was the leading scorer for UNC for the seventh straight time, but was held to just 17 points on 8-of-20 shooting. It was the first game the sophomore failed to produce 20 or more points. He also dished out seven assists in the loss.

Glotta was the only other scorer in double figures for the Bears with 10 points, while Miles and Radebaugh each had nine on the night.

Game Changer:
Oklahoma was finally able to wear down a road-exhausted Northern Colorado team in the second half. The Sooners outscored the Bears 30-14 in the final 11 minutes of the game, including two big runs of 8-0 and 10-2 down the stretch to earn the win.

Key Stat:
Though they shot 30% (10-of-33) from three-point range, the trey is what kept UNC in the game for the majority of the night. The Bears got 30 of its 66 points from downtown, with DJ Miles and Jonah Radebaugh scoring a combined 18 points from beyond the arc.

In Their Words:
Head Coach, Jeff Linder
"With a young team and being that was our fifth game in almost ten days, as a staff we were concerned how much juice we would have left in the tank. This team has shown since day one they are going to come out and fight regardless of what the situation, what the circumstances are, regardless of who's on the floor for the other team, but that's all part of establishing and earning respect."

"As I told our guys, there's no one that respects us right now – that includes me as the head coach and that includes you guys. All we can do is go out and fight that much harder every day to earn people's respect. Which I think we've done, we've earned the respect of these teams that we've have to play – Arizona, Butler, Oklahoma. I think we've earned their respect by our resiliency, our fight and the way we play in between the lines."

"I thought in the first half, even the ones we missed (threes), we fought for uncontested shots and we got a lot of uncontested threes. We knew they were going to show hard on the ball screen with JD (Jordan Davis) and we were able to force them into rotations where we got easy looks, but that's life on the road. That's also where as a young team we need to learn as the game goes on you have to fight to get paint touches and try to fight to get scores in the restricted area to be able to finish off games."

Notables:
- UNC finished just 37% (26-of-71) shooting on the night, compared to Oklahoma's 54% (34-of-63)
- Jordan Davis was limited to 17 points on the night, the first time in seven games he's failed to reach the 20-point mark.
- Oklahoma outrebounded the Bears by ten, 45-35.
- The Sooners scored 52 of their 87 points in the paint on the night, besting the Bears who scored 28 points down low.
- Ibrahim Sylla and Jon'te Dotson both led the team in rebounding with six boards apiece.

Up Next:
UNC finally returns home to the friendly confines of Bank of Colorado Arena on Saturday, Dec. 3, facing Northern New Mexico College. Tickets are just $3 and can be purchased online here with the promo code COUNTDOWN16.

*ticketing fees may apply