NORMAN — Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma appeared plenty willing to embarrass Oklahoma for a third time in seven games.
Because OU had lost by 31 at Baylor Jan. 26 in Norman, trailed by 38 before losing by 27 to Baylor in Waco on Feb. 6, and here the Sooners were Monday night at Lloyd Noble Center, trailing the Huskies 21-4 just 8:03 into the game.
21-4!
Are you kidding?
For a moment, you wondered if the fans, all in pink, might turn on their favorite team.
Then, down the stretch, Auriemma left his starters in to the end. And over the last few minutes, the Huskies doubled their advantage.
The final score?
73-55.
Are you kidding?
Over the final 31:57, Connecticut outscored OU 52-51. And the Huskies had to close on a 16-5 run to do it.
Believe it.
This is progress.
It’s a lot of numbers to take in. But it’s proof what the Sooners did on the court after losing their collective mind for 8 good minutes was truly a turnaround.
With 11:57 remaining in the first half, OU quit getting worse and started getting better. And there’s a lot of season left, too.
For a change, that seems like a good thing for this team. And OU has Auriemma to thank.
Looking to expose the home team as a rag-tag group that had no place on the court with his Huskies, at least not this season, that rag-tag group finally banded together and competed.
It didn’t happen against Baylor. It didn’t happen at Oklahoma State. It didn’t happen in two games against Missouri, the clear runt of the Big 12 Conference.
It happened Monday.
And it isn’t just that it happened, it was who made it happened.
Even before OU found itself, Whitney Hand took her first shot on the Sooners’ second possession. That urgency intensified as OU fell behind by more and more, low and behold, by the time it was over, Hand had led the Sooners with 18 points and even led them with 19 shots attempted.
The attempts may be more important than the points because she’s been OU’s best and most indispensable player all season long. She should be taking the most shots.
Now, she is.
Then there’s the freshmen and the Serb.
It was Kaylon Williams whose natural 3-point play gave fans one last reason to believe, making it 59-50 with 4:19 remaining. But guess who else was on the court with her?
Two were fellow freshmen Sharane Campbell and DaShawn Harden. Another was senior Jelena Cerina. And Hand. Against the nation’s second-ranked team, Coale had her best five players in the game, and only one of them was a starter.
You have to love the Sooner bench, but how long can Campbell be kept out of the starting five, especially while Aaryn Ellenberg wallows in the mother of all shooting slumps?
It’s pretty amazing stuff.
The last time a freshman came in to resurrect the season, it was Jenna Plumley, catching lightning in a bottle back in 2007. Well, maybe this time, three freshmen can save it.
Ellenberg will have to make more than two shots a game at some point, but maybe that can happen off the bench. Joanna McFarland and Nicole Griffin are bound to have better days, but maybe those days will be fueled by watching Williams and Cerina eat up most of the minutes they once played.
It can all go the wrong way. OU can still come out flat and sabotage itself, even as it did Monday and has other days. Still, there’s something like a recipe at hand.
Get the right people on the court and turn them loose. Against Connecticut, it was enough to quit losing ground and start making it up.
OU got better.
It’s a start.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
