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March 4, 2012

By Andrew Gilman | SoonerSports.com
 
NORMAN, Okla. -- The urgency the Sooners showed in the final minutes Sunday against Kansas is something Oklahoma can feel good about as it heads to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament Thursday.

However, the first 35 minutes are probably worth forgetting.

OU lost to the Jayhawks 83-77 inside the Lloyd Noble Center, putting a damper on Senior Day, but more importantly it meant a disappointing end to the regular season and brought up a few questions as the Sooners head to the postseason.

Instead of winning the No. 2 seed outright, OU and Texas A&M finished up in a tie for second place in the Big 12, and were deadlocked on the first four tiebreakers. A drawing was held and OU ended up in the No. 2 spot.

OU will take on the winner of the Oklahoma State-Missouri game at 5 p.m. Thursday in Kansas City.

So while the Sooners got the benefit of the higher seed, coach Sherri Coale was the first to admit things are going to have to change if the Sooners are interested in an extended stay for the conference tournament.

The first question is what. The second question is how.

"I obviously have to change something," Coale said. "Typically conference season ends and breath of fresh air blows in, but I don't know. Its been a long time since we've ended our conference season playing the way we played. I just don't know."

What we do know is OU never really got going against Kansas. The Sooners trailed 10-3 after the first 2:30 of the game and never led in the first half. OU did manage a one-point lead with 16:15 left, but from there fell behind by as much as 14 with 4:24 to play.

Then the urgency changed for the Sooners.

"Obviously we have to go out with energy from the beginning," guard Morgan Hook said. "We can't start out slow or the rest of the game will be slow. It's what we've talked about all season -- just coming out with energy."

OU rallied late, cutting the lead to six on numerous occasions, but the Sooners couldn't get closer.

Said Hook: "It's a choice we have to make. Before the game we were up and everything but we got down 10-3 and really never fully bounced back."

"Kansas played inspired and we didn't," Coale said. "We were flat as can be. They wanted it worse than we did. Simple. We had opportunities. We didn't play inspired."

Whitney Hand had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Aaryn Ellenberg had 27 points and Hook had 17.

So, what has to change for the Sooners to be successful in Kansas City?

"I don't know," Coale said. "I'll figure it out before tomorrow."