Nov. 8—With a two-point lead and 11 seconds left in the game, Tanner Groves drove to the rim.

He got a good look at the basket, but the layup rolled just off the rim. The fight for the rebound caused the ball to bounce back toward the free throw line, where it was collected by Sam Houston’s Qua Grant.

Grant pushed the ball and found Lamar Wilkerson in the right corner, who drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the second half to give the Bearkats a 1-point lead with one second remaining.

The Sooners couldn’t get off a shot as time expired, as they were stunned by Sam Houston, 52-51, in their season opener Monday at Lloyd Noble Center.

Here’s three takeaways from the Sooners’ loss to the Bearcats: 1. Sooners’ defense leads the way until late The Sooners were able to withstand their offensive struggles until late in the game.

The defense limited the Bearkats to just 19 points in the first half on 9-of-32 shooting, including 0-of-9 from the 3-point line. With 5:14 to go, the Sooners led 46-34.

But the Bearkats got hot late, and Wilkerson led the way.

The Bearkats scored on seven of their final eight possessions. Three of Wilkerson’s 3-pointers came during that stretch as the Bearkats closed the game on an 18-5 run.

OU coach Porter Moser credited the Bearkats for pressuring the Sooners all game, which led to late-game exhaustion. For Jacob Groves, the defensive struggles late fall on the team’s leaders.

“The last four to seven minutes of the game, we weren’t as locked in,” Groves said. “I think a lot of that falls on the leaders, the guys who have been there and know how to win games. Just knowing how to close them out, knowing that we should do stuff that we talked about all week.

“Just letting a kid (Wilkerson) who comes off the bench get hot and gain confidence early by making shots, it’s tough, obviously. It just comes down to our leadership. We’ll definitely be in there watching it, talking about and learning from it.”

The Sooners still limited the Bearkats to 32 percent shooting (21-of-64) for the game, but it wasn’t enough.

2. Turnover issues again doom Sooners It was an issue that hurt the Sooners for much of last season, and it popped up again.

The Sooners turned the ball over 21 times, including 13 times in the first half. Their giveaways only helped make their shooting woes worse, as the Sooners shot just 37 percent from the floor and 26 percent from the 3-point line.

The Sooners finished the game with 21 turnovers and only six assists.

“We had a handful of turnovers by guys trying to make really home run plays that don’t usually come off ball screens,” Moser said. “I saw us trying to do a lot of things and they did that. They sped us up.”

The players credited the Bearkats’ full-court press for getting their offense out of sync.

“I think they just took us out of a lot of our stuff, and we didn’t get to a lot of the actions,” said Tanner Groves. “They were pushing out on a lot of our catches, and it just made it a lot easier to guard us.”

3. Grant Sherfield leads the way One of the only consistent sources of offense for the Sooners was their transfer point guard.

Sherfield finished the game with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and nailed two 3-pointers. Outside of Sherfield and Tanner Groves, the Sooners shot just 7-of-28 (25 percent) from the floor.

Sherfield (2 assists, 5 turnovers) struggled with turnovers, but he appeared to be the only Sooner comfortable with dribbling against the Bearkats’ defense.

Backup freshman guard Milos Uzan got extended minutes in the second half with Sherfield dealing with cramps, but he committed four turnovers in 20 minutes. Sophomore bench guard Bijan Cortes committed two turnovers in seven minutes.

“They were keying in on [Sherfield] from the beginning,” Moser said. “From the full court, every dead ball, they were denying him the ball ... We have to get some secondary ball handlers. That’s why we had Milos in there a little bit. I think [Sherfield’s] going to get a little more comfortable in taking us home.

“I think he’s going to get more comfortable as I continue to help him feel that way. Uber-physical game to start the year, especially with them keying in on him. I think you’ll see him be more aggressive as games go on.”

For Moser, how the Sooners respond will be key moving forward.

“My job is to get us better and to lead through this,” Moser said. It’s a long basketball season. This is not going to define us. How we react to this is going to define us. and I only know one way, that’s to look in the mirror, find out where we’re going to get better, and have all of them do the same and be closer than we’ve ever been.”

—Up next: The Sooners will take on Arkansas Pine Bluff at 7 p.m. Friday at home.