Oklahoma Withstands Baylor’s Second-Half Surge, Advances to Crown Championship Game

The Sooners are one win away from a championship.

Oklahoma defeated Baylor 82-69 in the College Basketball Crown semifinals in Las Vegas on Saturday. The win follows the Sooners’ overtime victory over Colorado in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Oklahoma is 21-15 overall after the win, while Baylor ends its season 17-17 with the loss.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Sooners come out hot

Opposed to Wednesday’s game in which the Sooners were ice-cold out of the games, they played an efficient first half against the Bears.

OU went to halftime with a 45-35 lead, thanks to an efficient 51.4-percent shooting effort from the floor. The Sooners also shot fairly well from deep, going 4-of-10 on 3-pointers with four different Sooners making a triple over the first 20 minutes.

Guard Xzayvier Brown was particularly strong in the early going for OU. He went to the locker room with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Baylor, on the other hand, started the game cold.

The Bears shot 43 percent from the field in the first half and made just two of their 14 three-point attempts. They also committed eight turnovers, while OU logged only two.

Oklahoma neutralized Baylor star Cameron Carr in the first half, holding him to two points on 1-of-8 shooting. He entered Saturday’s game averaging 19 points per game and is widely viewed as a potential first-round selection in the 2026 NBA Draft.

OU overcomes slow second half start

Upon returning to the hardwood, the Sooners were cold.

Oklahoma allowed Baylor to go on a 13-3 run in the first few minutes of the second half to tie the game. The Bears took their first lead since the game’s opening minutes midway through the half.

Baylor’s advantage, though, was short-lived, and the Sooners got back into their rhythm.

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OU went on a 21-9 run over a nearly-nine-minute stretch to get its lead back to double digits. The Sooners kept their lead at nine points or larger for the rest of the game before ultimately winning by 13.

Brown scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He is one of four Sooners who finished in double figures, alongside Nijel Pack, Tae Davis and Derrion Reid.

For Baylor, Isaac Williams and Tounde Yessoufou paced the offense with 15 points each. Carr played an inefficient game, ending the contest with 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting.

Cha-ching

Many people go to Vegas and lose a lot of money — the Sooners will not.

After Saturday’s win, Oklahoma is guaranteed to take home at least $100,000 in name-image-likeness money from its trip to the College Basketball Crown. If the Sooners win the championship, they will earn $300,000.

OU will battle either West Virginia or Creighton in the tournament’s championship game.

West Virginia beat Stanford in overtime on Thursday, while Creighton handled Rutgers to advance to the semifinals.

The College Basketball Crown championship game will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.