OU basketball: Sooners can't end Allen Fieldhouse woes in 23rd straight road loss at Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. — OU coach Porter Moser preaches “gaps” — three stops in a row.

“If we have seven gaps in a game, we’re usually winning (according to the) percentage,” Moser said.

But gaps were scarce for the Sooners on Saturday against Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse.

OU didn’t have a single “gap” in the second half of the Sooners’ 78-66 loss to the Jayhawks, as Kansas pulled away after halftime to keep their dominance of OU in “The Phog” alive.

“You’re not gonna beat Kansas doing that,” Moser said. “You’re not gonna beat a lot of teams doing that. We had to get more stops so we could run on some misses, get things going. It just put a lot of pressure on our offense not getting any stops.”

The Sooners’ defensive struggles were highlighted by the turnover column.

Kansas had just two — their fewest and the fewest forced by the Sooners in at least 14 years.

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OU’s losing streak at Allen Fieldhouse stretched to 23, with their last win coming in 1993.

It might be awhile since the Sooners get another chance, as it was the last matchup between the teams before OU makes the move to the SEC after the season.

With just less than three minutes remaining, Kansas fans began taunting the Sooners with an “S-E-C” chant.

OU might be in a hurry to get to the SEC after its second consecutive road loss in Big 12 play.

While Hunter Dickinson scored 24 with 14 rebounds to lead Kansas, Kevin McCullar scored 15 of his 21 in the second half — eight at the free-throw line.

“We kept putting him at the line and that’s where most of his points I think came from,” Javian McCollum said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of showing our hands and keeping their key players from getting the easy points at the free-throw line.

The Jayhawks finished 17 of 18 from the line.

Here are four other takeaways from the Sooners’ loss:

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Sooners can’t stop Hunter Dickinson

Porter Moser said going into the game that Kansas’ 7-foot-2 Hunter Dickinson was a matchup nightmare.

He proved to be right.

In addition to his 24 points and 14 rebounds, Dickinson had five blocks.

“We know he protects the rim,” McCollum said. “That was in the scout. We’ve just got to do a better job of playing off two and finding our open teammates.”

The Jayhawks outscored OU 46-26 in the paint and 15-6 on the fast break.

“It’s as good as a turnover,” Moser said of Dickinson’s blocks. “If you go in there and he’s between you and the basket, you have to play off two feet. That’s something we stressed and we didn’t get into the game. … When you drive it in and think you are shooting over him, he’ll rotate over and help and then you got to kick it.”

Luke Northweather gets playing time

Redshirt freshman Luke Northweather has played sparingly of late.

Since the first of December, the 6-foot-11 Northweather had played just eight total minutes.

He had yet to appear in a Big 12 game.

But Friday, Sooners coach Porter Moser hinted that there could be times when Northweather or 6-foot-5 freshman guard Kaden Cooper could see the floor in conference play.

With John Hugley IV picking up his second foul with nearly 13 minutes remaining in the first half, then Jalon Moore getting called for his second with around 5:30 remaining, Northweather was pressed into action in the first half.

Northweather played the final 1:38 of the first half after briefly coming onto the court when Moore was called for his second.

“This is a long league race, a physical league race,” Moser said Friday. “Those guys need to be ready. Sometimes you get in those non-conference games … and sometimes they’re hard matchups for a guy like Luke on the perimeter. Then you get into conference, all of a sudden you might have a bigger four-man. You might be able to play him a little bit.”

Northweather came in again in the second after Hugley picked up his fourth foul with just more than 11 minutes remaining.

Northweather came into the game just 1 for 6 from the beyond the arc on the season but hit a pair of 3-pointers in less than a minute in the second half to help keep the Sooners within striking distance.

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Will Sooners-Jayhawks rivalry renew?

The day before the game, both coaches were asked if there was a possibility the teams could play a home-and-home in the foreseeable future.

“It’s very hard because Kansas doesn’t do a lot of home-and-home in non-conference,” Sooners coach Porter Moser said Friday. “They have so many premier games like the Champions Classic. They have a lot of things. Obviously, I’m not thinking about that right now.

“You never take something off the table. I’m sure it’ll come up at some point. It has to be a two-way street.”

Kansas played only one true road game during non-conference play this season, playing at Indiana in December.

In recent seasons they’ve played Missouri, St. John’s, and Villanova, among others on the road in non-conference play.

“I haven’t thought of that,” Kansas coach Bill Self said when asked if he’d considered scheduling a home-and-home with the Sooners. “Oklahoma home-and home as one of your two home-and-homes you play in a year? I could maybe see something like that but we haven’t really broached that at all.”

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Critical stretch upcoming

After playing two of their first three conference games on the road, OU will play three of their next four at home, beginning with Wednesday’s matchup against West Virginia.

After a road game at Cincinnati next Saturday, OU hosts Texas and Texas Tech.

“If you can steal a road game, that’s huge,” Moser said. “The atmospheres are tough. That’s why I’m trying so hard to get our atmosphere where it needs to go. I thought we had a good start to our league atmosphere. … The atmosphere has to be a sixth man.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball: Sooners' Allen Fieldhouse woes continue in Kansas loss