Sooners stunned in Columbia

March 5, 12:30 AMOklahoma Sooners ExaminerCharles Ward

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Oklahoma's Omar Leary, center, shoots as he drives between Missouri's Laurence Bowers, left, and Marcus Denmon, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, in Columbia, Mo. Missouri upset Oklahoma 73-64. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

Uh-oh.

J.T. Tiller and his Missouri Tigers forced a ton of poor perimeter play from the Oklahoma Sooners, and took advantage of a fair amount of unforced mistakes en route to thumping the Oklahoma Sooners 73-64 Wednesday in Columbia, Mo.

Oklahoma (26-4 overall, 12-3 Big 12) turned the ball over 21 times, earning multiple odd-man opportunities for the Tigers (25-5, 12-3). OU also just hit just 25 of their 60 shots, including a 4-for-18 performance from 3-point range. 

And, frankly, this one could have been a lot worse for OU. Missouri only hit 44 percent of its field goal attempts (OU shot at a 42 percent clip). 

The Tigers' ball handlers, though, outperformed the OU guards in one key area: ballhandling. Only four of Missouri's nine turnovers came from the guard position, compared to 13 for the Sooners' guards. Missouri finished with 12 steals.

Well, you know when you play them you're going to feel the pressure. One of the things we talked about was not turning the ball over, not allowing them to speed us up. We didn't do a good job of either of those tonight. They're athletic and they play hard and they play through every possession. They play run through mistakes. Even though they make them, they play hard and make up for mistakes. — OU head coach Jeff Capel

Tiller scored 13 points and delivered three assists, while teammate Zaire Taylor scored 10, dropped three times and stole three possessions from the Sooners.

And I have to say again, J.T. Tiller...defensive player of the year. He really stepped it up again a lot...going from one guy to the next. He stepped a lot, so hopefully my boy gets Defensive Player of the Year. — Missouri's DeMarre Carroll

Blake Griffin did his thing, scoring 16 points and pulling down 21 rebounds. Carroll's 15 points and 10 rebounds mitigated, if not countering, Griffin's efforts. Leo Lyons, Carroll's front court mate, also scored 15 points.

Oklahoma also lost a huge opportunity to not only improve its resume in comparison with other contenders for a No.1 seed, but also lock up a spot in the Kansas City first and second round NCAA Tournament pod. 

Missouri, meanwhile, can secure the No. 2 seed in next weeks Big 12 Tournament with at Texas A&M Saturday. OU will host Oklahoma State Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST to conclude regular-season play. OU will be the third seed in the Big 12 Tournament with either a loss to the Cowboys or a Missouri win at College Station. Oklahoma also missed a huge chance to play catchup with Big-12-leading Kansas, which dropped a shocking 84-65 decision at Texas Tech Wednesday.

The loss is also the Sooners third in four games. 

There's always concern, but we'll figure it out, we're OU. We hit a couple bumps in the road, had that game without Blake (Griffin). We had a tough stretch, down the stretch. We had a tough set of games all in a row. But we'll get better. We'll use these games as a learning experience. — Capel

There will be no "yeah, but" or asterisk on this Missouri win. Blake Griffin, Juan Pattillo and Willie Warren played a full game for Oklahoma. 

Charles Ward can be reached at soonerexaminer @ me.com (remove the spaces)

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