It's been three long years since an Oklahoma men's basketball team last made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They're back in the madness this year, and the reward for their celebratory return is a first-round date with the reigning national champions.
The Sooners (20-13) are the 9-seed in the West Region and will face No. 8 UConn (23-10) in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday. While OU would have been overjoyed with any seed or any opponent after being on the outside looking in the last three years, its placement in the tournament is fraught with double jeopardy.
The dreaded 8-9 line in the NCAA bracket means that if you make it past the first game, your next game is likely against the top-seeded team in that region. And for Oklahoma, that would be No. 1 Florida, a team that beat the Sooners by 18 points this season, and that a number of experts are picking to hoist the championship trophy on April 7 in San Antonio.
The 19,500-seat Lenovo Center in Raleigh is curiously the site for the first weekend West Region matchups in this year's NCAA Tournament. Where the teams are sent for round of 64 games is always interesting because it really has no correlation with what region a team is assigned to except for proximity to the top teams.
we ain't done yet 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/cFo9QypALF
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) March 18, 2025
Despite being assigned a 9-seed, Connecticut enters the tournament as the two-time defending national champion, having won it all in 2023 and 2024. The Huskies are one of only three teams in the modern NCAA Tournament era to have won back-to-back national championships and are seeking to become the first team since the John Wooden era at UCLA to win three consecutive national titles.
Oklahoma and UConn have played each other just four times previously in basketball. All four games came in consecutive seasons beginning in 2001-02. The Sooners were 3-1 in those games. This will be UConn's 38th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma is making its 34th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2021.
The OU-UConn matchup is one of the four games assigned to the late window on Friday night. The tip-off is scheduled for about 8:25 p.m. CT and will be televised on TNT. The announcing crew for the game will be Ian Eagle doing play-by-play, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery providing analysis and Tracy Wolfson reporting on the sidelines.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- OU super freshman Jeremiah Fears leads the Sooners in scoring with a 17-point average. The four-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree has scored at least 22 points in five of Oklahoma's last eight games.
- The Sooners are tied with Florida for third place among the SEC's 16 teams with five Final Four appearances (Kentucky leads with 17, Arkansas has six). OU teams have made it to the Sweet 16 round 11 times and to the Elite Eight on nine occasions.
- Twenty-one of Oklahoma's 33 games this season have been against 16 teams that made this year's NCAA Tournament. The Sooners are 9-12 in those games.
- The Sooners are the only team in Division-I basketball that has as many as six different players who have scored at least 25 points in a game this season.
- Oklahoma is the second team head coach Porter Moser has taken to the NCAA Tournament. He led Loyola Chicago to the Final Four in 2018 and the Sweet 16 in 2021. He is 6-2 in NCAA Tournament games.
UConn
- The Huskies have three starters who score at least 14 points a game: Solo Ball (14.6), Liam McNeeley (14.5) and Alex Karaban (14.4). Ball led the Big East and ranks 21st nationally this season, shooting 42% from behind the 3-point line.
- UConn has six national titles to its credit and is 71-32 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Head coach Dan Hurley has taken two different teams to the NCAA Tournament (Rhode Island and UConn) and has an overall tournament record of 14-4, including two national championships.
- UConn ranks 14th nationally in offensive efficiency, per Kenpom. If the Huskies have a notable weakness, it's defensively. They rank 90th in defensive efficiency.
- UConn ranks No. 1 in Division-I basketball in blocked shots per game (6.4), 10th in free-throw percentage (79%) and 18th in rebounding margin (+6.3).
Prediction
Very few people are picking the Sooners, who are playing some of their best basketball of the season at the right time, to defeat UConn and advance to the second round. OU has made it past the opening round in its last two NCAA Tournament appearances and four of its last five, but UConn and its heralded basketball brand is another animal. This has not been the best season for the Huskies compared to recent seasons, but this is still a dangerous team.
This game will probably be played in the 70s or 80s given that neither team is that prolific defensively. In the end, the team that holds its own in the rebounding department and is able to convert its opponent's mistakes into points will win this game.
Experience in years and on the big stage also plays a big factor in March Madness, and Connecticut has the edge in this department. Only two players on Oklahoma's roster have been on a team that played in the NCAA Tournament.
UConn wins and advances to play No. 1 Florida.