Oklahoma will face Louisville in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas on Friday.
The Sooners improved to 6-0 with an 82-77 win over No. 24 Arizona on Thursday to advance to the championship game. The victory came 24 hours after the Sooner men defeated Providence in the opening round of the holiday tournament being held on Paradise Island in the Bahamas
Jeremiah Fears led the way for the Sooners in the win over Arizona, scoring a season-high 26 points, including four of seven from three-point range. It was the sixth straight game that the true freshman top-50 recruit has scored in double figures. Senior leader Jalon Moore added 24 points.
Like in the game with Providence, Oklahoma held a nine-point lead late in the contest with Arizona but had to hold on in the closing minute to preserve the win.
Louisville advanced to the championship game by defeating No. 14 Indiana 89-61 followed by a 79-70 win over West Virginia in overtime.
Friday's championship game will be televised by ESPN with a scheduled 4:35 CT tip off and an announcing crew of Dave O'Brien and Jimmy Dykes.
Three takeaways from Oklahoma's tournament win over Arizona
- For the sixth consecutive game, Oklahoma shot better than 40 percent for the game. The Sooners shot 43.1 percent in the win over Arizona. They also were better than 40 percent from long range, hitting 12 of 29 of their three-point attempts for 41.4 percent.
- The Sooners committed a season-high 17 turnovers in the game that led to 23 Arizona points. One positive in this category, however, was that freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears had just one turnover against Arizona after committing eight turnovers in the win over Providence.
- Oklahoma collected 15 offensive rebounds that led directly to 23 second-chance points. The Sooners also were also almost perfect from the foul line, hitting 21 of 22 charity shots.