OU basketball journal: Oklahoma basketball tickets going quick

Ellis and Frank Mason played 53 of the 55 minutes for Kansas.

The Jayhawks’ top five did the bulk of the work, too, but Kansas got crucial minutes from just about everyone on the bench. Wayne Selden Jr. and Frank Mason III were the two main defenders on him throughout the night and played well, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the most lethal scorer in the land. We had enough chances to win the game.

Kansas received 44 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel while Oklahoma (12-0) got the other 21.

West Virginia is ranked 17th after a 12-1 start.

Games like this continue making you want to be a part of the atmosphere. Throw in Hield and Oklahoma has a backcourt trio that is a big reason the Sooners are shooting 45.3 percent from 3, a notch behind Kansas, and averaging 87 points – sixth-best nationally.

In what will likely go down as the best game of college basketball’s regular season, No. 1 Kansas beat No. 2 Oklahoma in a triple-overtime thriller, 109-106.

OU guard Buddy Hield scored a career-high 46 points and played all but one minute. He hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to give Kansas the lead for good. It was a game that went down to the final seconds four separate times. It exceeded expectations. It’s one of the best college basketball games ever played.

“It’s going to be fun”, Sooners star Buddy Hield said. The teams combined to make 27 three-pointers, 38 assists and finished almost the entire game without a player fouling out until Oklahoma’s Jordan Woodard picked up his fifth foul with 15 seconds left in the third overtime. But after Mason drove the lane with six seconds left and missed the shot, Kansas forward Landen Lucas was called for a foul on the rebound. Fortunately for college basketball fans, but unfortunately for the Sooners, Khadeem Lattin (a 52% free-throw shooter) missed a potential game-winning free throw (there were three seconds left).

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Zach LeDay of Virginia Tech scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and blocked London Perrantes’ attempt to tie the game in the final seconds.

Missouri (13-1) shot 32.8 percent (21 of 64) from the field and made just 2 of 21 (9.5 percent) from 3-point range – both season lows. On a night when Brice Johnson stole the headlines with 39 points and 23 rebounds for North Carolina, Hield responded with 46 points of his own. Ryan Spangler finished with 14 points and 18 rebounds in the first triple-overtime game in the history of storied Allen Fieldhouse. Marcus Paige added 30 points for the Tar Heels (14-2, 3-0 ACC), who have won seven straight. OU made a trio of 3-pointers during a 47-second span in the waning moments of the first half to erase the Jayhawks’ largest lead of the game – 11 points at 5:51 mark.

THREE OTS: This was the second 1 vs. 2 matchup to go three overtimes and Kansas was in both. Arizona is an offensive powerhouse that has scored at least 82 points in each of their last six and won eight in a row overall with UCLA and USC next up. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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