OU Basketball: Oklahoma Rallies But Falls to UConn in NCAA Tournament

The Sooners led for just 17 seconds in their return to the Big Dance as the offense hit the skids in the final three minutes.

Oklahoma guard Brycen Goodine / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

RALEIGH, NC — Oklahoma’s return to the Big Dance was just a quick little number.

The Sooners, after a three-year absence from the NCAA Tournament, lost 67-59 to Connecticut on Friday night at Lenovo Center on the campus of North Carolina State.

No. 9-seed OU ends a tumultuous season at 20-14, while the two-time defending national champion Huskies improve to 24-10 and advance to Sunday’s second round, where they’ll play No. 1 regional seed Florida, who demolished No. 16 Norfolk State 95-69.

OU was a 4.5-point underdog against UConn, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

The Sooners overcame a slow start and took the lead in the second half, but the lead was short-lived, and Oklahoma made just one of its final nine field goals and didn't score over the final 2:44.

Maybe facing some early nerves against Dan Hurley’s two-time defending national champs, Porter Moser’s squad fell behind 11-2 out of the gate. But that’s when Jeremiah Fears heated up. 

The Sooners’ fabulous freshman, who finished with a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds and four assits, scored nine of his team’s next 16 points, including a 3-pointer that cut it to 16-11 and a layup that made it 16-13. 

"Man. I thought our guys were ready," Moser said. "I thought we got some good looks. I mean, I'll look back at the tape, but we had some good looks."

Glenn Taylor’s 3 from the left corner made it 18-16 with 10:22 left in the first half and the Sooners had finally settled in.

Fears led the Sooners with 11 points in the first half, while seven other players scored for OU.

Both teams cranked up the defense in the final minutes before halftime. The Huskies missed their last five field goal attempts, and the Sooners missed nine of their last 10, with nobody scoring over the final 3:16 before the break.

UConn shot 39 just percent in the first half, but the Sooners only made 29 percent.

OU fell behind 41-32 early in the second half but Jalon Moore’s trapezesque three-point play cut it 41-35 with 12:59 to play and sparked the Sooners back to life. Moore finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Huskies couldn’t stop fouling in the second half, putting the Sooners in the free throw bonus for the final 13 minutes.

Mo Wague got a steal on one end and an offensive rebound on the other that led to three free throws from Brycen Goodine that cut UConn’s lead to 42-40 with 11:27 left. 

After Tarris Reed and Alex Karaban combined on back-to-back layups for a four-point possession, Wague collected an offensive board off Fears’ missed dunk and calmly laid it up through contact, then finished his own three-point play to make it a 46-43 game, and 40 seconds later, Wague’s layup pushed the Sooners to within 46-45, forcing a Connecticut timeout with 9:54 to play.

Wague’s offensive explosion continued on the next possession as he took a feed from Fears, missed his first shot, grabbed the board and made the putback, giving Oklahoma its first lead at 47-46 with 9:03 left. 

OU led for just 17 seconds as Solo Ball drained a 12-foot jump shot that put the Huskies back in front for good.

UConn stretched it back to a five-point lead as the Sooner offense hit a snag, but Fears hit a long 3 and Moore converted a layup to make it 54-52 at the 6 1/2 minute mark. Moore then tied it when he pulled down a long rebound and outraced the Huskies downcourt, finishing with a 360-degree layup that knotted it up at 54 with six minutes to go. 

Karaban’s 3-pointer from the right wing quickly rebuilt the UConn lead to 60-56, forcing Moser into a timeout with 3:32 left. 

Wague’s back-door assist to Duke Miles made it 62-58, but Karaban dropped in a floater in the lane to stretch it back to a six-point lead with two minutes to play, and the Sooners didn’t have enough down the stretch to rally.

Two offensive possessions in particular were critical as both Dayton Forsythe and Miles drove the lane into traffic but had their shots rejected. UConn scored after each one to create the final separation.

"It was 54-54," Moser said, " ... and it went from one to six on two straight possessions of where we try to take on the trees. And we shouldn't."

Oklahoma finished just 3-of-17 from 3-point range against the Huskies despite several wide open opportunities.

Playing extra minutes with senior forward Sam Godwin out with a knee injury, Wague had one of his best games with nine points and 12 rebounds.

"We were short handed inside when Mo was out," Moser said.

Ball led UConn with 14 points. Karaban scored 13 and Reed had 12.

The Sooners' rally from a slow start echoed the way the team played the final three weeks of the season after a difficult SEC stretch.

"I think this team has shown, I mean, each game, that we get questioned about the resilient team, and we're a connected team," Moore said. "The most connected team is always a team that rallies and comes back and comes together. So I think that's that was just kind of the character of this team, man."

"Just being able to fight back through tough times," Fears said, "it was ups and downs throughout the game, and we just did a great job of playing to 'til the buzzer says 00."

Oklahoma hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since Lon Kruger’s final game in 2021 — a loss to No. 2 overall seed Gonzaga in Indianapolis. The program’s previous tournament win came in that year’s first round, a 72-68 win over 9-seed Missouri.

The Sooners recently led the nation in NCAA Tournament wins among teams that haven’t won a national championship, but have been stuck on 43 for three years and got passed by Purdue (48), Gonzaga (46) and Illinois (45). OU is also third nationally on that list with 34 NCAA Tournament appearances behind Purdue (36) and Illinois (35).

Moser applauded his team's offensive efficiency this season, but said some "things happened" Friday that hadn't been.

"A lot of layups didn't fall early," Moser said, "(and) it was one of our poorest 3-point shooting nights."

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