WATCH: Oklahoma keeps season alive with stunning upset of defending national champion Baylor

Oklahoma, fighting to keep any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament alive, did just that in Porter Moser’s first Big 12 Tournament as the Sooners’ head coach, as OU pulled off a stunning upset of the No. 2-seeded Baylor Bears by a 72-67 final score.

Oklahoma, which came into the tournament as the No. 7 seed, needed a perfectly-executed gameplan to stop the Baylor Bears, which came in as heavy favorites, and the Sooners implemented it with apparent ease. The Sooners took a quick first-half lead on Thursday night, but after 11 first-half turnovers, Baylor managed to take a 33-27 halftime lead. But once the Sooners took control in the second half, Moser’s squad never looked back.

Oklahoma shot an incredible 51.0 percent from the field on Thursday night, making 26-of-51 field-goal attempts, and they made an even more impressive 52.4 percent from three-point range (11-of-21). With such an efficient shooting output, Oklahoma was able to overcome Baylor, which shot 38.5 percent from the field and couldn’t seem to buy a shot from deep, converting on 13.6 percent of three-point attempts.

Fighting to keep their season alive 💪 @OU_MBBall pic.twitter.com/J3o9lzrc7F

— ESPN (@espn) March 11, 2022

Oklahoma won the rebounding battle on Thursday, notching 36 boards to Baylor’s 34, and OU also had 18 assists to Baylor’s 11.

Baylor certainly controlled some facets of the game, as the Bears were able to create turnovers frequently. Oklahoma finished with 16 turnovers, while Baylor committed just six of its own, and Baylor even got 12 offensive rebounds to Oklahoma’s six.

But when the starting five put together such a well-balanced offensive attack, Baylor hardly seemed to stand a chance. Five Sooners scored in double figures, including four starters: Jalen Hill had 10 points, five boards, an assist and a steal; Jacob Groves had 15 points, including 3-of-5 from deep, plus nine rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal; Umoja Gibson had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists and Jordan Goldwire had 10 points, three rebounds and six assists. The fifth player to finish in double digits for Oklahoma was Marvin Johnson, who came off the bench for 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

With the win, Oklahoma improved to 17-14 on the season. The Sooners will face the winner of No. 6 Iowa State and No. 3 Texas Tech, which is set to kick off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.