ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Coming off three straight losses, Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel was happy to get a win. Any win.
But he's also realistic.
"This doesn't fix all of our problems," Capel said Saturday, after the No. 25 Sooners (3-3) beat winless Nicholls State 81-60 to place fifth at the Great Alaska Shootout, a tournament in which Oklahoma was the only ranked team.
The Sooners lost three games this week, falling at Virginia Commonwealth on Nov. 21 and dropping games to San Diego and Houston in the tournament.
"We're not as good as everyone thought we were," Capel said. "Maybe not as good as our guys thought we were."
Things didn't look good for Oklahoma early, when scrappy Nicholls State (0-8) twice built comfortable leads in the first half, including a 39-32 advantage with 1:22 left. But Cade Davis hit a 3-pointer and made two free throws to bring the Sooners within 39-37 at the break.
Nicholls State went ahead 48-41 with 16:57 left before Oklahoma went on an 10-0 run and took the lead on a dunk by Tiny Gallon with 14:51 left in the game. After Nicholls State regained the lead at 51-50 on a 3-pointer by Chris Iles, Davis hit a 3-pointer at the 12:59 minute mark and the Sooners never trailed again.
"Oklahoma jacked up the intensity, and we got a bit rattled," said Anatoly Bose, who finished with 12 for the Colonels.
Gallon, a 6-foot-9, 290-pound freshman, scored all of his 15 points in the second half. He also had 12 rebounds, and when Gallon wasn't pounding the ball inside, Davis was hitting from the outside. Davis scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, finishing 4 of 9 on 3-point attempts.
"The ball looks like it's going in every time it leaves his hands," said Nicholls State coach J.P. Piper.
Capel said shooting wasn't the biggest contribution from Davis on Saturday.
"Cade is a guy that shoots the basketball, but his biggest impact was his energy," Capel said. "He stepped up as far as leadership was concerned."
Three other Sooners were in double figures: Tony Crocker and Steven Pledger with 14 apiece, and Tommy Mason-Griffin with 10. Dominic Friend and Fred Hunter both had 14 to pace the Colonels.
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Northwestern 67, Iowa State 65: CHICAGO -- John Shurna scored 23 points and Michael Thompson added 16 as Northwestern defeated Iowa State 67-65 Saturday night in the championship game of Chicago Invitational Tournament.
Shurna, a sophomore, outperformed preseason All-American candidate Craig Brackins and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody to win the invitational's MVP award.
Craig Brackins and Lucca Staiger each had 18 points for Iowa State (6-1).
Northwestern (5-1) went on an 11-3 run early in the second half to erase a 48-40 deficit. Shurna had back-to-back baskets in the span and Thompson made a 3 to tie the score at 51 with 10:53 left.
The Wildcats built a 63-56 lead with 3:09 left before the Cyclones scored five straight points to close within 63-61 with 1:34 left. Jeremy Nash made a pair of free throws to extend the Northwestern lead to 65-61 with 21.3 left, and the Wildcats held on to close out the win.
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Missouri 52, Richmond 59: SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- David Gonzalvez scored 18 points to lead Richmond to a 59-52 win over Missouri on Saturday night to clinch the South Padre Island Invitational.
Gonzalvez gave the Spiders (6-1) the lead for good with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with a little more than four minutes remaining.
The Tigers (4-1) kept it close after that, even pulling within two points when Laurence Bowers hit a shot with eight seconds left to make it 54-52.
However, after being fouled, Kevin Anderson hit two free throws with four seconds left to give Richmond some breathing room. Anderson, who at 6 feet was the smallest player on the court, scored 14 points overall and had six rebounds.
Anderson, who also hit the winning shot against Mississippi State the night before, was named the tournament's most valuable player.
In the first half, Missouri pushed the ball at every opportunity, employing a full-court press to quicken the pace and force nine Richmond turnovers.
But Richmond handled Missouri's pressure better than Old Dominion did in its semifinal loss Friday and created shots with a half-court offense led by Anderson and Gonzalvez.
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Texas Tech 74, Samford 53: LUBBOCK -- Texas Tech followed the same formula it has all season, getting balanced scoring to defeat Samford 74-53 Saturday and remain unbeaten.
The Red Raiders (7-0) got 16 points from John Roberson, 15 from David Tairu, 14 from Nick Okorie and 11 from Mike Singletary to run their win streak to seven games. Roberson also had nine assists and three steals, while Singletary pulled down eight rebounds.
Six Texas Tech players average between 8 and 13.8 points per game for the season.
In contrast, Samford (1-5) got 26 points from Josh Davis on Saturday. But he was the only Bulldogs player in double figures.
Texas Tech shot 54.7 percent from the field (29 for 53), while Samford shot just 36.7 percent (18 for 49).
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Kansas State 70, IUPUI 57: KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jacob Pullen scored 25 points and Kansas State defeated IUPUI 70-57 on Saturday.
Pullen was one of four players to reach double figures for the Wildcats (5-1). Dominique Sutton scored 14, Denis Clemente scored 12 and Curtis Kelly added 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Alex Young led the Jaguars (5-2) with 19 points while John Ashworth and Leroy Nobles added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
The teams engaged in a seesaw battle early in the contest as the Wildcats sprinted out to a 9-0 lead, but a two-point bucket by Billy Pettiford got the Jaguars on the scoreboard with 17:27 left. The IUPUI defense stiffened as the Jaguars held Kansas State without a field goal for nearly five minutes and used an 11-2 run to tie the score at 11-11. But that's as much damage as IUPUI could do.
Kansas State quickly regained the momentum as 3-pointer by Clemente sparked an 11-0 run midway through the period. Kansas State took a 40-29 lead into intermission.
IUPUI cut the deficit to seven early in the second half, but five straight points by Pullen ignited a 15-1 Wildcat run that slammed the door on the Jaguars' comeback attempt. IUPUI never regained control as Kansas State led by double-digits for the remainder of the contest.
Strong 3-point shooting by IUPUI kept the game from getting out of hand down the stretch as the Jaguars finished 9-of-18 from behind the arc but the Wildcats' post presence proved to be too strong for the Jaguar defense as Kansas State outscored IUPUI 34-16 in the paint.
WOMEN
No. 5 Notre Dame 81, No. 20 Oklahoma 71: ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands -- Freshman Skylar Diggins scored 16 points and the Irish used a 20-0 run in the second half to win the Island Division of the Paradise Jam.
Notre Dame (6-0) trailed 51-48 when its defense kicked in, triggering the big run that resulted in a 68-51 lead. The Sooners (4-2), with leading scorer Danielle Robinson on the bench with four fouls, went 0 for 8 from the field and committed eight turnovers during the spurt.
Robinson, who finished with 26 points, got the Sooners within 73-63 by scoring 10 during a 12-5 run. But Oklahoma couldn't get any closer the rest of the way.
Diggins was the tournament MVP, while Brittany Mallory added 15 points for Notre Dame.
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No. 8 Baylor 89, Louisiana-Lafayette 42: WACO -- Freshman Brittney Griner had 14 points and 14 rebounds, and her five blocks keyed a defense that allowed the Bears to coast at the World Vision Basketball Challenge.
Morgan Medlock added 14 points and nine rebounds for Baylor (5-1). Ashley Field added 13 points and Melissa Jones had 10.
Alexis Green had nine points and Jessica Sigue eight for the Ragin' Cajuns (0-5).
Griner was dominant on both ends during a 17-0 run that put Baylor in control midway through the first half. The 6-foot-8 star had six points and six rebounds during the spurt.
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TCU 74, No. 18 Kansas 69: FREEPORT, Bahamas -- Emily Carter scored 16 points, Eboni Mangum added 14 and the Horned Frogs won the consolation game of the Junkanoo Jam.
Starr Crawford added 11 points for TCU (4-2), which rebounded from a loss to Minnesota by shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and rallying from a 33-29 halftime deficit.
Krysten Boogaard scored 21 points to lead Kansas, while sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland added 16. Danielle McCray finished with 16 points.
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