The Oklahoma men's basketball team got all it needed in Nashville, Tennessee.
It's a tough reality to swallow the morning after, but Thursday night's (Friday morning's?) outcome would be even more demoralizing if it ended the entire season. But it's not over for the Sooners yet.
The 14 seed Sooners' three-game winning streak ended with a devastating 85-84 loss to 6 seed Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament in a game that tipped off late Thursday night but didn't finish until early Friday morning.
It was the type of game that makes fans of the losing team resent whoever started their fandom, but had every other fanbase delighted they stayed up long enough to witness.
The Sooners trailed by 10 with 1:26 left. Then it was 83-77 with 41 seconds left. Then Sooner Magic leaked into Bridgestone Arena, but could apparently stick around for only 40 seconds.
Freshman Jeremiah Fears drained a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to narrow the margin to three points. Eight seconds later, Fears swiped the ball away while pressing, then dished it to Jalon Moore, who slammed it down. Otega Oweh, in the first blunder Sooner Nation has witnessed him make late in a game, threw a bad pass that wound up in Fears' hands for his second steal within six seconds.
Fears slowed things down, collected himself at the top of the key, then drove to the left and made a contested layup to give his Sooners an 84-83 lead with six seconds left.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED 🤯@OU_MBBall x @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/lyZLunfAb3
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 14, 2025
But Otega Oweh is always better against the Sooners than he ever was with them. It was the former Sooner again jarring up the Sooner Magic. He got the ball on the inbound, raced down the right side of the court, went through some OU defenders, then went up before switching to his left hand and making another game-winning shot against his former team.
OWEH. NAILS. 😤@KentuckyMBB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/lIzmTaWY7e
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 14, 2025
Oweh will be the one on SportsCenter because of the game-winner, but Fears, at just 18, was phenomenal, and has been in the biggest moments of his career so far. Fears led all scorers with 28 points a night after putting up 29 against Georgia in OU's first-round win. He also had five assists, four rebounds and three steals against Kentucky.
Senior forward Jalon Moore also reached double digits with 12 points. Kobe Elvis also scored a dozen off the bench.
These Sooners have accomplished more than what they just did during a game big enough to consume parts of two different days. In just a week's time, OU won three games in a row that included a top-15 upset, a victory over rival Texas on the road and the program's first-ever win in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament.
OU's basketball season was closer to being over a week ago than it was Thursday night in the midst of March Madness. The Sooners were on the outside looking in of the NCAA Tournament field. Then after back-to-back wins, they were told all they needed was one more in the first round of the SEC tournament to go dancing for the first time in four seasons under Porter Moser.
And the Sooners got what they needed. And Sooner Nation celebrated, ready for the madness.
The Sooners' 2024-25 season could have ended a tragedy Friday morning. Instead, this season means more.