No matter what [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] does the rest of his career at Oklahoma, he will forever be engrained in Oklahoma basketball lore.
In Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the final [autotag]Bedlam [/autotag]game at Gallagher-Iba Arena, McCollum ripped the hearts out of the Oklahoma State faithful in cold-blooded fashion.
Oklahoma struggled early in the game and were down eight at halftime. But they put together a big second half. [autotag]Javon Small[/autotag] who is one of the best free throw shooters in the conference missed the front end of a one-and-one with about four seconds left which sent it to overtime.
That’s when the McCollum show started. After a timeout with nearly 13 seconds left, McCollum got the inbounds. It looked like the Sooners were a little confused about what the play was so McCollum made some magic happen. After a couple of hesitation dribbles, he tried to go to the basket but was cut off, dribbled it back out past the three-point line near the corner, sidestepped and buried the three to win Bedlam, silencing the crowd.
McCollum broke down the feeling of hitting that shot after the game.
“The feeling was great,” McCollum said. “To know that my teammates and coaches trust me in that moment. But as I said, we had a couple of big plays before that. Waldo (Rivaldo Soares) hit a big three, Otega had an and one and Los (Milos Uzan) came down and hit an and one. It was a whole bunch adding up to it, I just hit the shot.”
That win helped the Sooners sweep the Cowboys in their final year in the Big 12 conference. It’s the first time they’ve done that since the 2018-2019 season.
That also gets Oklahoma to 19 wins and puts them in prime position to make the [autotag]NCAA Tournament[/autotag]. A loss could have greatly affected their chances of making the tournament. So, McCollum’s shot could have saved the season and that’s why he’ll live in the lure of not only Oklahoma basketball but in the history of the Bedlam rivalry.
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