On This Date in OU Hoops History: Sooners Survive Thriller With Louisville
Oklahoma’s 2020 college basketball season came to an unceremonious and premature end when the NCAA declared this year’s tournament would not be played due to measures intended to stop the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Sooners just might have assembled the kind of team — a Big Three scoring triumvirate and a collection of young, athletic talent — that could have possibly made a good postseason run.
This team’s resume will always be incomplete.
Instead of using three weeks this spring to witness OU basketball history, SI Sooners will relive it. From now until April 4 — the date that was supposed to be this year’s Final Four semifinals — we’ll look back on Oklahoma’s most memorable NCAA Tournament games from that date in history.
MARCH 24, 1988
(1) OU 108, (5) Louisville 98
In one of the most entertaining games of the 1988 Tournament, Oklahoma looked like the best team in the nation — certainly the most offensively potent.
In the Sweet Sixteen, OU (33-3) outlasted Louisville 108-98 as all five Sooner starters scored in double figures.
Harvey Grant had a career performance with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Stacey King had 24 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, and Mookie Blaylock recorded 18 points, 7 assists and 2 steals in the Southeast Regional semifinal in Birmingham.
OU also got 15 points and 8 assists from Ricky Grace and 11 points, 7 assists and 3 steals from Dave Seiger.
Pervis Ellison had 23 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, and Felton Spencer came off the bench for 15 points and 7 rebounds for the Cardinals.
Louisville (24-11) shot 58 percent from the floor but couldn’t overcome the Sooners, who forced 22 turnovers with their full-court pressure.
“They have a chance to win it all,” said Louisville coach Denny Crum. “They are good enough to do that.”
OU led just 55-51 at halftime and 76-74 midway through the second half before Seiger and Grant scored three-point plays — Seiger from distance, Grant from inside. After that, the Sooners began to separate.
Seiger, Blaylock and Grace each finished with three 3-pointers as OU shot 53 percent from the field and 53 percent from outside the arc.
“We even had a hand in their faces, and still they hit the three-point shots,” Crum said. “We made some mistakes in the game, but that team will force you into mistakes.”
OU advanced to a regional final showdown with Villanova.
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