OU Basketball: Oklahoma Beats Missouri to Prolong NCAA Tournament Hopes

Oklahoma played a sterling first half and held off a Missouri rally to post a 96-84 victory over the No. 15 Tigers Missouri on Wednesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.

It was a surprising result, given the Sooners came in 1-7 since losing at Auburn on Feb. 4 and fell 82-58 at Missouri Feb. 12.

It was, potentially, a season-saving result given Porter Moser's team came in tracking the wrong direction in terms of NCAA Tournament hopes. Now OU goes to Texas for Saturday night's regular season finale with a shot to still go dancing.

"Ah man, it felt great. Felt great," said OU senior Jalon Moore. We work hard, day in, day out, regardless of outside noise. Man, we've always stayed together. And just to come back to LNC for the last time and for Senior Night, man, it was amazing."

We'll see how much the Sooners' NET ranking (No. 50 coming in) changes Thursday, and whether ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi puts them on or off his NCAA bubble — they were among the "Last Four Out" in his latest mock field. OU's 5-12 SEC record, even with Wednesday's win, remains a blemish.

But at least the Sooners bagged a sixth Quad 1 victory, and got a big performance from their best player when they had to have it in the process. And a good one on Senior Night.

"You go through a lot," coach Porter Moser said. "You go through a lot in the season. And there's never been more pressure in college athletic than there is right now. There's a lot of pressure. And when you're going through with your family, you're trying to block everything out, you're going through good times, bad times, and it's just emotional.

"And to see Jalen Moore, you know, walk off the court and just, with the win against a big team that we needed, needed to win ... just a lot of emotion and love in there for the guys when you battle through adversity together. And I thought that was the emotion that we were having, having those guys walk out the court for the last time."

Here are three takeaways:

Jeremiah Was a Bulldog

Point guard Jeremiah Fears made all five of his shots in the first half, setting the tone for a half during which OU made 20-of-29 from the field and raced to a 50-37 lead.

Fears’ first play of the second half was a steal, runaway and dunk for a 52-37 margin.

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It was another tone-setting moment on a night Missouri would threaten to rally, cutting the deficit to eight points twice, but never threaten to win.

Fears finished with a game-high 31 points, punctuated by a length-of-the-floor take and three-point-play with 47 seconds remaining to push OU’s lead back to 92-78. He shot 9-of-13 from the floor and 12-of-12 from the line while contributing five assists and four rebounds.

First Godwin, Then Wague

Moser’s plan was to attack Missouri through the paint. It worked marvelously in the first half thanks to Sam Godwin.

The one-time walk-on commemorated his Senior Night with eight points in the game’s opening first minutes. He had 12 points, on 5-of-5 shooting, when Missouri’s Annor Boateng landed on the back of his right leg under OU’s basket with 5:32 left in the first half.

Godwin, who has made 19 consecutive field goal attempts, returned to his bench in the second half but with his right knee iced and braced.

"I just left Sam. We'll see. Get an MRI tomorrow, and we’ll see. What I did, I just hugged him," Moser said. "But I told him, 'Missouri starts out so fast, back-to-back games getting gut-punched, and your start energized everybody.' Just the confidence he had to start us off again."

Godwin's exit left an opportunity for Mohamed Wague.

The Sooners’ 6-10 sub scored 12 points (4-of-4 from the field and the line) and chipped in four offensive rebounds in 18 minutes. Six of Wague’s points came during a 1-minute burst midway through the second half to preserve OU’s double-digit lead.

Elsewhere on The Bubble

Wednesday’s result in Norman doesn’t change the fact that the Sooners don’t necessarily control their own March Madness destiny. They’ll do a lot of scoreboard watching between now and Selection Sunday to see how other so-called NCAA bubble teams are doing.

With that in mind, here’s a look at how Lunardi’s most recent “Last Four In” and “Last Four Out” teams (other than OU) have done this week:

Ohio State defeated fellow Last Four In team Nebraska 116-114 in double overtime Tuesday in Columbus. The Buckeyes’ NET ranking held at No. 36 with the result. The Huskers’ slipped from No. 56 to 57.

The other two Last Four In teams prevailed on the road Tuesday, Arkansas 90-77 at Vanderbilt and Boise State 80-57 at Air Force. The Razorbacks jumped from No. 47 to 39 with their Quad 1 victory at Vandy. Boise actually fell from No. 42 to 45 despite winning big.

Lundardi’s latest Last Four Out teams besides OU were Xavier, North Carolina and Texas.

The Longhorns pulled out an 87-82 overtime win at Mississippi State Tuesday, jumping from No. 46 to 41 with that Quad 1 triumph.

The Tar Heels rolled 91-59 at Virginia Tech Tuesday, jumping from No. 43 to 38.

Xavier won 91-78 at Butler Wednesday. The Musketeers’ NET was No. 49 heading into that game, one spot ahead of OU.