The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday in a way no other team had been able to this season.
The Sooners hammered No. 24 Vanderbilt 97-67 at Lloyd Noble Center despite trailing by four points at halftime.
With the comeback victory, OU became the first team this season to beat the Commodores when trailing halfway through. Vanderbilt was 16-0 before when leading at halftime this season.
It was a much-needed win for an OU squad that's on the NCAA Tournament bubble and in the midst of five straight SEC games against ranked teams. Vanderbilt was the second challenge of the difficult stretch after the Sooners lost to No. 13 Texas A&M 75-68 on Tuesday.
It was also a tremendous recovery, not only for OU as a team, but for freshman star Jeremiah Fears. For the first time in his career, Fears didn't tally a point in the loss against Texas A&M. It was also only the second time he didn't reach double digits in scoring.
On Saturday, though, Fears led the Sooners with 21 points while adding six rebounds and four assists. As a guard, Fears pulled in more rebounds than any of the other starting five.
Another freshman guard, Dayton Forsythe, was also major in the win, scoring 14 points off the bench.
As usual, senior forward Jalon Moore was up there with Fears, scoring 19. One more point, and Moore would have had at least 20 points in four of the last five games.
Moore leads still leads the Sooners with 18.2 points a game. Fears' average is back up to 15.9.
Moore was vital in overcoming the halftime deficit after turning things up in the second half. He scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half. The big man made a pair of 3s in the second half.
The Sooners can't celebrate a ranked win for long, though. They travel to No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday night. The Tigers fought off an upset Saturday and put No. 23 Ole Miss away with a 92-82 win.
Good news for the Sooners is that the game sets up nicely for them. A road loss to the best team in the country won't really tarnish OU's NCAA Tournament resume. A win, though, would be monstrous.
A loss Saturday would have been detrimental and likely even popped OU's bubble. Vanderbilt was the last Quadrant 2 game left on the Sooners' schedule until Feb.15 against LSU. That means a loss to the Commodores would have been the hardest on OU's NCAA Tournament chances during its current two-week stretch.
But, now, the Sooners probably made enough of a statement Saturday that, even with the loss to Texas A&M, they'll stay put in the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament.