Tuesday night was a messy affair in the Lloyd Noble Center, but the Oklahoma Sooners came out on top when the dust cleared. After a rough start, they clawed their way to a hard-earned 20th win.
Oklahoma hosted Cincinnati for what will go down as Oklahoma’s final Big 12 home game. While the game ended with a 74-71 win in overtime, it was not without its own challenges.
Before the game, it was announced that starter [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] would not be playing after injuring his shoulder during practice.
So before the game started, Oklahoma was down a starter as they got set to face a desperate Cincinnati team. The Bearcats, coached by Wes Miller, came out like the more hungry team as they played with more energy than the Sooners in the opening 20 minutes.
After falling behind 14-3 early, Oklahoma methodically worked its way back into the game. As he’s done many times this year, Rivaldo Soares paced the Sooners early with 10 points and was the only Sooner in double figures as OU put up a paltry 27 points at halftime.
The Sooners shot 40 percent from the field in the half, but the big story was the performance of sophomore Milos Uzan.
On a day when the Sooners needed him to up his contributions without McCollum in the lineup, Uzan was held scoreless in the first half. He also had two turnovers and sat a significant amount thanks to two fouls.
The Sooners entered the break down 28-27 and were fortunate to remain in the game after their poor start.
The second half was even worse offensively for the Sooners, as they shot 32% from the field. However, they shot a surprising 50% from long distance, and they cashed in on 21 of 23 free throws in the final 20 minutes.
A back-and-forth affair came down to the waning moments of the game.
While down two with 17.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Porter Moser drew up a crispy inbounds play to free Le’Tre Darthard in the corner for an open 3-pointer to give OU a one-point lead. Oklahoma fouled Darthard’s former Utah Valley teammate Aziz Bandaogo with mere seconds left, and Bandaogo hit one of two free throws to send the game to overtime.
Oklahoma found its defense in the extra period. Sam Godwin and Otega Oweh came through with clutch buckets, while Darthard went 3 of 4 from the free throw line to close things out. The Bearcats’ last attempt to tie the game clanged off the rim and Darthard secured teh rebound to seal the win for the Sooners on Senior Night.
Soares, Darthard, Godwin, and Maks Klanjscek were honored Tuesday night before the game.
Oklahoma found a way despite being without Javian McCollum and arguably the worst performance of his young career from Milos Uzan. Uzan shot 1 of 10 for 2 points and fouled out in the second half.
Le’Tre Darthard finished as the team leader in points with 18, while Soares and Jalon Moore dropped 16 a piece. Jizzle James, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Edgerrin James, had 16 to lead the Bearcats.
It wasn’t pretty and deserved zero style points, but Oklahoma found a way.
The Sooners were a 10 seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology update before the game, and this win should solidify their case as an NCAA tournament team.
If Tuesday’s win wasn’t enough, Oklahoma will have another chance to pad their resume as they travel to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. They’ll have a chance for revenge in the final regular season iteration of the Red River Rivalry in the BIg 12 before both schools depart for the SEC.
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