It was Intentional Foul Night in Oklahoma on Tuesday.
OU beat Kansas 85-80 at Lloyd Noble Center in part because Lon Kruger ordered four intentional fouls in the final four minutes. The Sooners’ Matt Freeman four times deliberately blocked KU’s Udoka Azubuike from setting a screen. Azubuike, who came into the game a 41-percent foul shooter, missed all six of those free throws, allowing the Sooners to stay close and eventually take the lead.
About an hour later, about 20 miles north, Brooklyn Netropolitans coach Kenny Atkinson ordered an intentional foul on the Thunder’s Andre Roberson, a notoriously bad foul shooter.