With a win over Texas checked off the must-do list, Oklahoma's NCAA Tournament hopes now rest squarely on how far the Sooners can go this week in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Sooners demonstrated the resilience and fight-to-the-end behavior that wasn't present early in the season, and it paid off in an 88-85 overtime victory over Red River rival Texas on Saturday night in what might have been Oklahoma's biggest and clearly most critical win of the season.
Oklahoma went into the game against its chief rival having to win the game to have any hope of keeping its slim chances of making the NCAA Tournament alive, and also having to do it on the road before a sold-out crowd of over 11,00 mostly Longhorn fans at Moody Center, and on Texas' Senior Night to boot. An immensely tall order.
The Sooners found themselves behind 40-36 at halftime, but fought back in the second half and led by a dozen, 69-57, with just under seven minutes to play. Texas got a second wind, however, and responded with a 14-2 run to tie the contest at 71 at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime.
With the Longhorns leading 82-81 with 1:18 remaining in overtime, the big question was: Could OU ward off the Texas momentum and finish off what it had controlled for most of the game? The Sooners were equal to the challenge, scoring seven of the final 10 points, fueled by a second-chance putback by Mo Wague and followed shortly thereafter by a three-point dagger by Derrion Reid that all but sealed the victory for the Sooners.
With the Oklahoma win, the two teams split the season series. Texas won the first game in Norman by a score of 79-69. Since the two longtime rivals left the Big 12 to become members of the SEC, all four games between the two have been won by the road team.
Sooners head to SEC Tournament playing their best basketball of the season
Winners of six of their last eight games, the Sooners head into the SEC Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the conference and now set their sights on March Madness. Oklahoma was awarded the 11 seed and will be matched against No. 14 South Carolina on Wednesday night. That game is scheduled to tip off at about 8:30 p.m. CT, the last of four first-round games.
For the past couple of weeks, it has looked as if Oklahoma would go into the SEC Tournament as the 12- or 13-seed and likely paired against Mississippi State in the first round of games. By defeating Texas, the Sooners were able to move up on the seed line, and South Carolina earned a similar benefit by way of its win over Ole Miss in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
As the 11-seed, Oklahoma's path through the conference tournament will match the Sooners against South Carolina, then potentially against No. 6 Texas A&M, followed by No. 3 Arkansas in the quarterfinals. OU lost by a combined 10 points in two games against A&M this season, and also played Arkansas relatively close, falling by just four points.
OU will have an opportunity in the conference tournament to avenge an 85-76 loss at South Carolina in mid-January. Down the stretch in the regular season, the Sooners have been successful in winning the rematch against two of the three teams they had lost to in the regular season.
Earlier in the season, in the midst of Oklahoma's nine-game losing streak, the Sooners were pronounced on life support with virtually no chance of making it to this season's NCAA Tournament. During OU's late-season turnaround, however, college basketball experts like ESPN's Joe Lunardi and others in the media who make it their business to project the teams that will comprise the tournament field have begun to view the Sooners as an NCAA Tournament team worthy of bubble consideration.
Although Oklahoma's chances of making it into March Madness are still considered somewhat of a long shot, the win over Texas was a major hurdle in the process. The general belief is the Sooners still need to win a couple of games, and potentially three, in this week's SEC Tournament to earn an at-large bid.
But OU is moving up on Lunardi's NCAA tourney bubble list. A week ago, he had 10 teams ahead of the Sooners as bubble teams with work to do. As of Monday, OU had moved into the "Next Four Out" group with six teams in front of them, according to Lunardi.
On the 12/13 line in the conference tournament, OU would have faced Mississippi State in the first round, and after that No. 6 Tennessee and No. 4 Vanderbilt. Most experts would agree the Sooners' chances of beating Texas A&M (not to mention it's difficult to beat a team three times in the same season) in the second round are greater than knocking off Tennessee, especially in Nashville.
What it all comes down to, though, for Oklahoma is win a couple of games this week in Nashville and things should become very interesting come Selection Sunday.