Oklahoma Survives in Overtime for Massive Road Win Over Texas

The Sooners stayed alive on Saturday.

Oklahoma took down Texas 88-85 in overtime on the road for its fourth win in a row. The victory avenges the Sooners’ 79-69 loss to the Longhorns on Jan. 31.

The Sooners improved to 17-14 overall and finished 7-11 in SEC play with the win, while the Longhorns dropped to 18-13 and 9-9.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Sooners collapse to end regulation

Oklahoma held a six-point lead with 35 seconds left — but the Sooners’ advantage quickly evaporated.

Texas’ Tramon Mark made a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left. OU guard Dayton Forsythe then turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, and the Sooners fouled Mark again on a 3-pointer.

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Mark made all three attempts to cut the deficit to one point. Texas fouled Oklahoma forward Tae Davis after Mark’s free throws, and Davis responded with back-to-back made free throws, once again giving the Sooners a three-point lead.

With six seconds left, Texas’ Jordan Pope missed a 3-pointer, but he collected his own miss, dropped behind the three-point line and shot again — this time drawing a foul on Xzayvier Brown.

Pope made all three of his free-throw attempts to tie the game 77-77. Brown had a deep three-point chance at the horn, but it went wayward, sending the game to overtime.

OU survives in overtime

Even after those disastrous final 35 seconds of regulation, the Sooners still got the win.

With 1:03 left, center Mohamed Wague scored on a tip-in to give OU an 83-82 lead. The Sooners held Texas scoreless on its ensuing possession to keep it a one-point game.

Oklahoma forward Derrion Reid found open space in the corner with 11 seconds left and nailed a 3-pointer, essentially icing the game. Texas missed a 3-pointer in response before Nijel Pack knocked down two free throws with two seconds remaining.

Mark hit a near-half-court shot as time expired, but it wasn’t enough to give the Longhorns the win.

Pack led Oklahoma with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Pope scored a game-high 30 points for Texas.

Crunch time

OU needed a win to keep any hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid alive, and the Sooners got that.

Still, the Sooners likely have more work to do to have a chance at earning that bid.

Oklahoma and the SEC’s other 15 members will compete in the SEC Tournament in Nashville from Wednesday to Sunday.

With the win, OU will open the SEC Tournament against South Carolina on Wednesday. The winner of that game will battle six-seed Texas A&M in the second round.

OU entered Saturday ranked No. 56 in the NET rankings, which are used heavily by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The road win over Texas — No. 39 in the NET — will go down as a quad-one victory, which will almost certainly help the Sooners rise in the rankings.