Three Takeaways From Oklahoma's Loss to Nebraska

Despite an Oklahoma 10-0 run to start the game against Nebraska, the Sooners were outpaced and outplayed as the game played out, losing 105-99.

The Cornhuskers never lost poise despite a hot start by OU — which included an additional run at 11-0 for OU midway through the first half. Timely three-point shooting and easy buckets led to the big red slowly regaining control of the game.

OU held a 44-28 lead with 5:28 to go in the first half only to watch the Cornhuskers close on a 16-7 run. The Nebraska run bled into the second half as OU surrendered 56% from beyond the arc.

Nijel Pack did all he could to keep OU afloat, but their inefficient shooting (38% from three, 52% from the field) doomed them from gaining an advantage.

The Sooners were able to make things interesting late. OU cut the 10-point Nebraska lead to 99-92 with 42 seconds to go. Despite furious runs to the basket, OU wasn't able to get over the hump.

Xzayvier Brown scored 20 points, while Tae Davis and Derrion Reid combined for 28 points.

Three-Point Defense?

Nebraska shot lights out from beyond the arc. The Sooner perimeter defense did little to turn off the water with the Cornhuskers shooting north of 50%.

Against Gonzaga, Oklahoma didn't need to worry about defending the perimeter — because they were getting dragged in the paint like rag doll — but the Bulldogs were able to hit timely threes to keep any hope of an OU comeback down.

Nebraska did a lot of the same in a closer game to regain control. Pryce Sandfort, Rienk Mast and Jamarques Lawrence combined for 12-for-21 from three, scoring 68 points.

Sloppy Play

Once again OU did not value the basketball.

The Sooners turned the ball over 10 times and the Cornhuskers turned those into 17 additional points. OU only turned Nebraska over five times, scoring eight off of them.

If your defense is going to show some leaks on the perimeter, you have to generate turnovers and scoring on the other end. Oklahoma was unable to do that.

The sloppy play wasn't limited to turnovers — OU sent Nebraska to the foul line 28 times, with the Cornhuskers hitting 22 of them. This negated a nice day from the charity stripe for the Sooners at 19-of-21.

Don't Waste This Nijel Pack Game

The Miami transfer scored a team-high 27 points for the Sooners.

As Oklahoma works to ingratiate their multiple transfer players, the need to find a go-to guy becomes paramount the deeper into the season they go.

Pack was 10-for-18 from the field, including 6-for-12 from deep.