In a game at Ole Miss on March 1, senior point guard Sean Pedulla sank a contested game-winning 3-point shot with under 20 seconds to go that also sank an Oklahoma upset bid and resulted in an 87-84 Sooner loss.
Pedulla's game-winning shot capped off a game-high 26 points that kept Oklahoma on its heels practically the entire game. The Sooners fought from behind all but the opening 30 seconds of the second half and actually took the lead, 84-82, on a field goal by Duke Miles with 31 seconds remaining in the game, only to have their heart ripped out on Pedulla's dagger from deep 13 seconds later.
Sean Pedulla didn't get interest from the Sooners despite being in-state
The Ole Miss loss came during a painful stretch of the season for the Sooners. It was OU's sixth loss in seven games and had a number of experts writing the Sooners off in their bid to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Porter Moser's four seasons as head coach.
That's the way the ball bounces sometimes, some might say. That's true, but Oklahoma saw this happen several times this season, and twice the final blow was delivered by former Sooner Otega Oweh in the final seconds. On both occasions, it turned a one-point Oklahoma advantage into a one-point Sooner loss.
Pedulla isn't a former Sooner player, but he was a top-rated player from the Sooner State that OU apparently let get away. The 6-foot-1 point guard is a native of Edmond, Oklahoma, less than an hour's drive from the Norman campus and practically in the Sooners' backyard.
A two-time all-state selection in high school, Pedulla led Edmond Memorial High School to three state tournaments. He averaged 17.6 points as a senior in high school and was ranked as the No. 2 player in the state of Oklahoma and the 25th-best point guard nationally by 247Sports.
Despite this, Oklahoma showed little or no interest in recruiting Pedulla out of high school, and he wasn't heavily recruited outside of the state.
A 2021 recruit, Pedulla ultimately signed to play at Virginia Tech. He chose Virginia Tech in the ACC over offers from Oklahoma State and Minnesota. He also received offers from Tulsa, Colorado State and others, but not from Oklahoma.
He played three seasons for the Hokies, transferring to Ole Miss after his junior season in 2024. In three seasons at Virginia Tech, he averaged 12.1 points and three assists. His final season there in 2023-24 was his best, when he averaged 16.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 36 starts.
Pedulla proved to be a giant addition to the Ole Miss roster this season. He averaged 15.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in helping lead the Rebels to a 24-12 record and a 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Ole Miss made it to the second weekend of the tournament and the Sweet 16 before losing to Michigan State by three points despite a 24-point performance by Pedulla. He finished his college career as a third-team All-SEC selection.
The 2021 Oklahoma recruiting class was largely the work of Lon Kruger and his staff in his final season at OU. But the Sooners' 2021 class never played under Kruger. It was the first season for Moser.
There were four signees as members of the Sooners' 2021 recruiting class: guards Alston Mason, CJ Noland and Bijan Cortes, and 6-foot-9 forward Akol Mawein. Noland was rated a four-star prospect, the other three were all three-stars. Cortes was the only prospect out of Oklahoma.
Noland spent two seasons at OU before transferring to North Texas after the 2022-23 season and to New Mexico ahead of this season. Mason stayed only one season at Oklahoma before transferring to Missouri State for a couple of years, and then to Arizona State for this season. Mawein was another one-and-done in Norman from the 2021 class after his freshman season. He transferred to Sacramento State.
In retrospect, which admittedly is always 20-20 in hindsight, imagine how it might have been had the Sooners shown more interest in recruiting the home-grown prospect Pedulla. Seems as if they struck out on the 2021 recruiting class when instead they might have been able to land a pretty good one who grew up in Sooner territory.