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“Real Deal� was living up to his nickname again Saturday night at the Lloyd Noble Center, as he tossed in four more 3-pointers to help No. 22 Oklahoma send fourth-ranked Texas packing with an 82-72 loss in tow.

After the Longhorns took their only lead of the second half — a 48-47 edge on a bucket by LaMarcus Aldridge with 10:45 remaining — Michael Neal bombed home consecutive treys to ignite a 13-2 run that put the Sooners on top to stay. Known as “Real Deal� by his teammates, Neal finished with 14 points and has now connected on 14 of his last 26 attempts from beyond the arc (54 percent).

Neal, who missed OU’s first two Big 12 Conference games due to injury, has helped the Sooners go 4-0 since returning to the rotation on Jan. 14, a 45-44 win at Texas A&M.

Sooner Spectator caught up with Neal after Saturday’s win over Texas and talked to him about his comeback and the team’s turnaround:

Sooner Spectator: After missing your first two 3-point tries against Texas, was there any hesitation on your part about continuing to shoot?

Michael Neal: Honestly, you feel like you are going to make every shot. That is how my confidence has been. Putting in work before and after practice really helps (build) my confidence, so I thought all of (my shots) were going in.

SS: Your two 3-points in the second half started a 13-2 run that was the difference in the game. What were you thinking after that sequence?

Neal: I felt everything was going our way and I thought we really had a good chance to win the game. I knew if we continued to get some stops, we were going to be OK.

SS: It seemed this team had a bit of a swagger tonight that it hasn’t had much of this season...

Neal: The past few games we’ve been progressing as a team, getting better. We’re just improving every game. We didn’t play our best basketball those first few games during conference — we’re not playing our best basketball yet, but we’re getting there. We’re definitely going to feed off of this win. We’ve found some of our swagger and you’ve got to have that to be a good team.

SS: Terrell Everett and Taj Gray are expected to be leaders on this team and tonight they were fantastic. How important is that duo to the success of the surrounding teammates?

Neal: They are playing like seniors. They are both capable of going off any night and carrying us. Our whole team feeds off of them. I know I do, especially, and the guys coming off the bench. Terrell and Taj help set the tone and when they play good, we all play good.

SS: How good has it felt for you personally, getting back out there after the injuries and really becoming one of the main contributors on this team?

Neal: It feels so good. It feels even better since we’ve been winning and having fun playing the game again. When everyone is having fun, you are more relaxed and confident in everything you do on the court. It’s been a joy for me playing with these guys, everyone pulling for each other. You could see it in the way we came out and performed against a tough team like Texas.

SS: Despite the 0-2 start in conference play, this team has seemingly got things turned around. What is your mindset as you get deeper into league play?

Neal: Honestly, we feel like we can still accomplish every goal we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the season. We knew when we started out 0-2 that we were going to have to get each other’s backs. We knew we were a better team than that. It took some patience and us having faith in ourselves, but we survived and we’re getting better every day.