OU Basketball: Oklahoma Responds to Slow Start vs. South Carolina for First SEC Win

After four-losses in a row to begin SEC play, the Sooners found a way to win on Saturday, beating South Carolina 82-62.
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NORMAN — In Oklahoma’s first four SEC games, the Sooners found new ways to lose. 

But on Saturday, the Sooners found a new way to win.

After South Carolina took its first lead of the game early in the second half, the Sooners (14-4, 1-4 SEC) responded quickly and retook the lead, eventually winning 82-62. The win is OU’s first of the 2024-25 season where the Sooners led the entire first half and gave up the lead in the second before coming back to win.

The win follows Oklahoma’s four-game slide to begin conference play after the Sooners went 13-0 in non-conference games.

"But the understatement of the year is how bad we needed that," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "It was better winning basketball."

Here are three takeaways from OU’s win:

Ugly first half

Though Oklahoma won the game, both teams put on a display of ugly basketball in the first half.

The Gamecocks (10-8, 0-5) and Sooners combined for 23 turnovers while making only 22 baskets in the game’s first 20 minutes.

Oklahoma committed 18 twice — against Texas A&M and Texas — in the last three games, and the Sooners’ first-half effort against the Gamecocks looked like more of the same.

Aside from OU’s 11 turnovers, it felt like a game that the Sooners should’ve led heavily. They held South Carolina to a 40% clip from the field in the first half and gave up just three 3-pointers.

Second-half surge

For how badly the Sooners played in the first 20 minutes, they responded well to end the game.

South Carolina was the better team early in the second half, outscoring OU 12-6 in the first five minutes to take its first lead of the game.

But after that, the Sooners found better looks, tightened up their defense and retook the lead.

OU went on a 15-0 run in the middle portion of the half that turned a five-point lead into a 20-point lead.

Jalon Moore finished with a game-high 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Jeremiah Fears and Kobe Elvis also reached double figures, logging 16 and 12 points, respectively.

The Sooners also won the rebounding margin 33-27 and committed just one turnover in the second half.

"That was basically what was keeping them in the game, our turnovers," Fears said. "Second half, emphasis to take care of the ball. We took care of the ball and ran out with the lead and ended up beating them by 20 points. It was definitely important for us."

Hello, win column

Even after such a sloppy start, the Sooners got the win and did so convincingly.

Of course, Saturday’s victory is OU’s first conference win this year and its first as an SEC member. The Sooners are now 1-4 in league play after losses to Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and Texas to begin the slate.

Perhaps even more important than simply getting win No. 1 is that OU won a can’t-lose game.

The Gamecocks entered the day ranked No. 90 in the NET rankings, the lowest standing of any SEC squad. A loss to them would’ve been a quad-three defeat for the Sooners. (The NET rankings count games against teams ranked No. 75-160 as quad-three contests).

The win doesn’t do a whole lot for Oklahoma’s tournament resume, as it’s a quad-three victory. But it avoids the significant resume hit that the Sooners would’ve taken, had they lost on Saturday.

"We needed to log that first one so we could move forward," Moser said. "To get that narrative of getting the first one out of the way and getting our confidence back up to play winning basketball."

Oklahoma will have a full week to prepare for its next contest, a road game against Arkansas. The Razorbacks are one of just two SEC teams that are winless in conference play, along with South Carolina.


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Carson Field
CARSON FIELD

Carson Field has worked full-time in the sports media industry since 2020 in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming as well as nationally, and he has earned degrees from Arizona State University and Texas A&M University. When he isn’t covering the Sooners, he’s likely golfing, fishing or doing something else outdoors. Twitter: https://x.com/carsondfield