Texas Basketball: Matt Coleman brings the March Madness vs. OU

Matt Coleman really tipped off March Madness for the Texas basketball program on the right foot with his buzzer beater against Oklahoma.

Maybe not the biggest, but the most timely win of the regular season so far, came for head coach Shaka Smart and the Texas basketball program in a monumental win over the rival Oklahoma Sooners on March 3. Texas took on Oklahoma in the second edition of the Red River Rivalry game on the hardwood this season. Oklahoma got the best of the men in burnt orange the first time around, but not on this night.

The Texas Longhorns basketball program just wouldn’t allow the Sooners to get the best of them on March 3. Texas likely needed a win on the road over Oklahoma in Norman on Tuesday night to firmly keep themselves in the midst of the NCAA Tournament conversation. Exiting the regular season with a loss to Oklahoma and a possible win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys at home at the Frank Erwin Center just might not be enough.

However, that didn’t matter since Texas was able to notch their fifth straight victory. This time was not coming over a top 25 opponent, but Texas did get one over another team that was sitting on a winning streak. Texas had beat the No. 20 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers and No. 22 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders over the course of this four-game winning streak entering this showdown against Oklahoma.

The other two wins over the course of this five-game winning streak for the Longhorns came over the lowly Kansas State Wildcats and the TCU Horned Frogs.

Texas got big nights out of junior guard Matt Coleman and freshman forward Brock Cunningham in this win over Oklahoma. Coleman posted a game-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. He also added three rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

Meanwhile, Cunningham tallied up eight points, 11 rebounds, one steal, and one assist on 3-of-7 shooting from the field. That all came off the bench for Cunningham.

Neither team shot well in this game. Texas shot 33.3 percent from the field and less than 29 percent from beyond the arc. Oklahoma shot just 28 percent from the field too. Any fan of offense in hoops really would not have liked to watch this game.

The best player for the Sooners was senior forward Kristian Doolittle, who finished up with a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. But Doolittle missed two key free throws that wound up costing his team in the end.

Two late missed free throws in the dying seconds of the second half from Doolittle allowed the Longhorns to get one more possession. Coleman made the most of that last possession, in which he drained a bank-in three-pointer from slightly over halfcourt.

Both Coleman and Cunningham were superstars down the stretch in this win over Oklahoma. Texas got huge nights from both, in what amounted to mostly a defensive struggle for both teams. Shooting guard Andrew Jones and forward Kamaka Hepa really struggled from the field for Texas. Big man Brady Manek and guard De’Vion Harmon struggled from the field for Oklahoma too.

Texas moves their record to an increasingly solid 19-11 (9-8 Big 12) on the season. All they have left now is Senior Day, in which they host head coach Mike Boynton and Oklahoma State on the Forty Acres on March 7. Texas does move one step closer to solidifying their status as an NCAA Tournament team by winning five straight now.