The Oklahoma Sooners are back in the win column for the first time since the beginning of February. The Sooners, for the first time in five games, have found themselves on the winning side of a matchup, and this time it was against a ranked opponent.
The Sooners took down the No. 21 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs at home 93-87 in what ended up being a thriller all the way to the end. Jeremiah Fears was stellar for Oklahoma, leading the way with 27 points, and was one of three Sooners to score in double digits. Jalon Moore and Sam Dowin added 18 and 17 points to the total, as all three players made up over half of Oklahoma's total score.
This win over No. 21 Mississippi State is huge as the Bulldogs had been on a roll with back-to-back wins over ranked opponents with No. 19 Ole Miss and No. 7 Texas A&M. The Sooners desperately needed a win to see if they could get back into the bubble conversations for the NCAA Tournament and high profile win like this might get them close.
In the first half, it was truly a back-and-forth game between the Sooners and the Bulldogs, with Mississippi State taking a three-point lead into halftime. Oklahoma took the lead with 17 minutes left in the second half of the game, and even though the Bulldogs found ways to tie it, the Sooners always found a way to hit a bucket at the right time to preserve some sort of lead.
With about seven minutes left in the game, the Sooners did take a hit with guard Duke Miles diving after the ball and hitting the floor hard enough to knock out a few teeth. Miles somehow made a return to the game in the final minutes and hit some clutch free throws in the final minute to help seal the game.
Fears had quite the game as he finished with 27 points and 20 rebounds, recording a double-double for the game. Even though the Bulldogs out-rebounded the Sooners 42-31, Oklahoma shot a stellar 52.7% from the floor and 42.3% from three-point range.
Oklahoma has some big games ahead of them as they face three straight ranked opponents, but the one they should be focused on first is hosting No. 17 Kentucky on Wednesday, February 26 at 8:00 p.m. CT on SEC Network.