Sooners survive and advance, now face big test against Texas A&M
The Sooners opened the SEC Tournament with an 86-74 win over South Carolina on Wednesday night, despite trailing by 13 points at one point in the first half. Oklahoma was led by Nijel Pack, who had 24 points, and Derrion Reid, who scored 20 points, the most he has scored against an SEC opponent.
Tae Davis also had an impressive night with 18 points and Xzayvier Brown added 14 points. Jadon Jones was a big spark plug that led to the change in momentum late in the first half. Ultimately, Oklahoma took care of business and kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive behind four players scoring in double figures.
But that wasn’t the only thing that went well for them on Wednesday. Bubble teams Texas, Indiana, Cincinnati, Cal, SMU, and Oklahoma State all lost their games, setting things up perfectly for Oklahoma, which took care of business.
Now, despite going on a nine-game losing streak earlier in conference play, the Sooners, who are 7-2 in their last nine games, find themselves squarely on the bubble. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has listed them as the third team out of the field, moving them up quite a bit compared to yesterday.
It has been a remarkable turnaround by Porter Moser and his staff. In fact, during their five-game win streak since February 24, Oklahoma has been the No. 12 team in the country according to Torvik. However, it will all fall short unless the Sooners can upset 6-seed Texas A&M on Thursday night (approximately 8:30 p.m. on SEC Network).
The outlook now for Oklahoma is simple: beat the Aggies and you have around a 50/50 shot at getting into the Field of 68, but you’ll be sweating on Selection Sunday unless you beat 3-seed Arkansas on Friday night. If they were to do that, it would all but sure up Oklahoma’s spot in the field.
In order to have a chance to go dancing, they have to beat Texas A&M tonight in what could very well be Moser’s biggest game of his career at Oklahoma. The Aggies have beaten the Sooners twice this season, winning 83-76 in College Station back in January and 75-71 in Norman last month.
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It’s going to start with stopping Rashaun Agee, who is averaging 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds for the Aggies. He has averaged 17 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two meetings between the teams. Another player to watch is Rylan Griffen, who has averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and four steals over their last two games and has shot 42.5% from behind the arc on the season.
The Sooners will need Mohamed Wague to keep playing well and stay out of foul trouble just as he did on Wednesday night. Pack and Brown will need to be hitting from behind the arc, as if Pack is off it could be a long night. Additionally, if Davis and Reid can have strong nights again it would go a long way. Then Jones and Dayton Forsythe will need to continue being big contributors off the bench, especially offensively.
A win over Texas A&M would make Oklahoma’s tournament hopes a very realistic possibility, as Torvik would give them a 56.1% chance at a bid with a win and a 16.6% chance with a loss.
The Sooners have not won two games in a conference tournament since 2003 when Kelvin Sampson’s team won three. They have the opportunity to do that on Thursday night and the opportunity to become a real NCAA Tournament candidate.
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