MANHATTAN, Kan. — The decibel level went from about 110 to 10 as the final seconds ticked away Saturday night at Bramlage Coliseum. The only way it got to 10 was the tiny speckle of crimson crammed around Oklahoma’s bench in a sold-out purple clad arena.
The Sooners’ 63-60 victory over No. 22 Kansas State left just about all of the 12,528 in attendance speechless.
OU guard Steven Pledger was in that tiny minority. He gave out a celebratory shout as he rushed off the court, pumping his right fist. After scoring 30 points and helping the Sooners win on a ranked team’s home floor for the first time in four years, he’d earned it.
“It was time to win,” he said.
There wasn’t a more fitting place for it to happen.
The Sooners’ victory came in the arena where their coach’s retired jersey hangs right in the middle of the rafters and where he coached for four seasons. Winning in his first trip to Kansas State since resigning as head coach at the end of the 1989-90 season, was the least significant thing to happen for Lon Kruger.
“Important, but didn’t think much about it,” he said. “It pales by comparison to what it means to the players. They’re not aware of where I went to school. It’s insignificant.”
Kruger misjudged his team in that regard.
“It meant a lot for me,” said OU point guard Sam Grooms, who finished with seven assists. “You’re playing for a coach that was a big-time player. You come back to his old stomping grounds, you want to win for him, so he can have a little bragging rights. I don’t know if anybody else thought about it, but I did. I wanted to win for him.”
Groom showed it when he stole the ball from Kansas State forward Jordan Henriquez with nine seconds left and kept the Wildcats from having a shot at winning the game. He showed more of it when it sank two free throws with five seconds left that ended up being the difference in the game.
Saturday was truly a case of OU (13-7, 3-5 Big 12) making winning plays and making a couple more than the Wildcats (15-5, 4-4).
Pledger made them all night. He finished the night 11 for 17 from the field and 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Eighteen of his points came in the first half to stake OU to a 34-28 lead. Seven more came in the final six minutes and helped his team rally after giving up the lead.
“I felt good for him. He needed one of these games to get out of the mindset he was in. He was a little down on himself the past couple games,” Grooms said of Pledger. “Playing like this and making the shots he made, it was amazing seeing him come off screens and execute the plays. He made shots tonight. It was big for me just to watch it. I knew he was happy tonight doing what he was doing.”
The Sooners hadn’t won in another team’s home arena in 364 days. The last time in happened was Jan. 29, 2011, when they won at Iowa State in overtime. Pledger set a career high with 38 points in that game.
What happened against Kansas State was about much more than one player’s individual effort. OU won because it won the battles it had throughout the game.
Pledger’s final 3-pointer came after forward Andrew Fitzgerald won a battle for a loose ball and found Pledger all alone on the wing. The whole game was about capitalizing on the chaos.
Both teams struggled to make shots. OU shot 40 percent (22-for-55). Kansas State was only a smidgen better (41.2 percent). Rodney McGruder scored 19 to lead it. He even had a pretty good look at a 23-footer to tie the game with 1 second left. It clanged off the rim.
All Kruger was thinking about was the grit it took to get into that position.
“As I told the guys afterward, the win is great. Much more important is we showed some toughness, a little more fight and a little more competitiveness than we have,” he said. “We’ve been growing in that area, but I was really happy to see them step up in that area and do the things they did tonight against the club that sets the bar for toughness and good, hard play in the league. (KSU coach) Frank (Martin) does such a good job. I’m really happy for the guys and the outcome.”
