Sooners knock off Texas 88-85 in overtime thriller

Porter Moser and the Sooners entered the evening having won five of their last seven games. They went into Austin and continued their hot streak, grabbing a huge road win over Texas to end the season winning six of their last eight.

The Sooners opened the first half really well, but foul trouble quickly became an issue. Mohamed Wague played just three minutes before picking up two fouls, and Kirill Elatontsev played 10 first-half minutes and scored four points but recorded three fouls.

Texas went on an 8-0 run and grabbed the lead, and things were starting to get dicey. But Xzayvier Brown’s 12 first-half points helped Oklahoma trail just 40-36 at halftime, despite the Longhorns ending the half hot.

Foul trouble was a big issue for the Sooners, but so was scoring at the end of the half, as they went the final 5:27 without making a field goal. Additionally, Oklahoma made one three-pointer to Texas’ five and had just two first-half assists, yet trailed by only four points at the break.

In the second half, the Sooners quickly retook the lead and forced a Texas timeout early. Then Nijel Pack began to get hot, as he propelled a 9-0 Oklahoma run which gave them a 69-57 lead with 6:50 left to play.

Texas answered with a 7-0 run of their own and made it a 69-64 game with 4:05 left to play. Then Texas’ Jordan Pope drilled a three-pointer to make it a 71-67 game with 2:36 remaining.

Tramon Mark then made a jumper after a missed Pack free throw and the Sooners had a 71-69 lead with 1:56 left to play. Tae Davis scored a big bucket, and then Wague made a reverse dunk giving Oklahoma a six-point lead with 38 seconds left.

Then two fouls on three-point attempts allowed Texas back into it, as Jordan Pope had three free throw attempts with three seconds remaining and Oklahoma leading by three. Pope made all three free throws to send the game to overtime.

The game remained tight throughout overtime with both teams trading buckets. Then with 1:18 remaining, Pope drilled a three-pointer to give Texas an 82-81 lead with 1:16 left to play.

However, Oklahoma had an answer, as Wague tipped in a missed Pack three-pointer to give the Sooners the lead. Then, with 11 seconds left, Derrion Reid drilled a corner three-pointer to give the Sooners an 86-82 lead.

From there, Nijel Pack made free throws and the Sooners went on to grab a huge 88-85 win over Texas to end the regular season 7-11 in conference play and win six of their last eight games.

Notes

Nijel Pack led the way with 23 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes and shot 7-14 from the field and 3-7 from behind the arc. Pack was incredible in the second half as he scored 14 points in the half.

Xzayvier Brown also had a nice night with 21 points, four assists, and four steals on 8-18 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from behind the arc in 40 minutes. Brown was steady throughout the game.

Tae Davis totaled 14 points and nine rebounds in 34 minutes on 4-9 shooting from the field and 6-10 shooting from the free throw line, with many of those coming in big moments late in the game.

Derrion Reid had the shot of the night, drilling a corner three to give Oklahoma the win. Reid had 11 points in 31 minutes on 2-4 shooting from the field and 6-6 shooting from the free throw line. Three-point shooting was a big part of Reid’s development and tonight he put that on full display.

Mohamed Wague ended with eight points and five rebounds on 3-3 shooting from the field in 25 minutes. The box score does not quite show how well he played, as he was big down the stretch and, despite foul trouble in the first half, stayed out of it in the second half.

Off the bench, Jadon Jones was great, as he played 31 minutes and had seven rebounds and two points before fouling out. Jones was exceptional on the defensive end.

Dayton Forsythe had five points on 2-6 shooting from the field in 18 minutes. Kirill Elatontsev had four points and three rebounds on 1-3 shooting from the field in 13 minutes. Kai Rogers played four minutes due to foul trouble.

Oklahoma shot 27-61 (44.3%) from the field and 7-20 (35%) from three.

The Sooners will now likely need three games in Nashville to make the NCAA Tournament. The path starts Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. Central time as the 11-seed Sooners take on 14-seed South Carolina.

Should they win, it would be 6-seed Texas A&M on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m., and then 3-seed Arkansas at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night.

The Sooners finish the regular season 17-14 and 7-11 in conference play, meaning they improved from last season’s 6-12 conference record.

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