Oklahoma Survived the BBN Storm, but Couldn't Pick a Poison to Stop Kentucky

Kentucky fans had been waiting a long time for this moment, and I’m not just talking about the three games at Bridgestone Arena on Friday. The program that once dominated the SEC Tournament was 2-5 since its last title. Fans watched their favorite team play for a coach who publicly admitted he loathed the event.

Mark Pope played in front of 30,000 fans in the Georgia Dome to beat a Top 5 Arkansas team in the SEC Championship. You didn’t have to tell him how hungry fans were for a win in Nashville. You could feel it in the opening minutes.

Kentucky stormed out to a 12-3 lead in the first three minutes of the game by scoring in transition and knocking down a pair of threes. Bridgestone Arena was ON FIRE.

#BBNashville is WIDE AWAKE 😼

📺 – SEC Network pic.twitter.com/2fWFVnv75M

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 14, 2025

It looked like Kentucky would run away with the game, but Oklahoma was resilient early and often.

“The opening was a storm,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said after the game. “I mean, the fan base, the atmosphere, how they started, that was a storm. How we handled that has been how our team has been all year: resilient.”

Press Nearly Costs the Cats

Credit to the Sooners, they didn’t go down without a fight. They trailed by a dozen with 4:30 to play and six with 41 seconds remaining. They didn’t wave the white flag. Porter Moser rolled out the fullcourt press. The 1-2-2 rattled Kentucky, who turned it over three times down the stretch, allowing Oklahoma to come back and take a lead with just under 6 seconds to play.

“The guys kept being resilient. We ran a back play for (Jeremiah) Fears to get that three. He knocked it down. The guys were just scrambling and playing defense. Fears made a great play at the end. We didn’t have a timeout left. I probably wouldn’t have called it anyways. I would have rather called it against the press,” said Moser.

“He made a great play to come back and take the lead. Resilient toughness. My message at the time was we were trying to trap without fouling until they got across halfcourt at the end. We were trying to get two, three traps to keep going. That was our plan.”

Moser Shares Why Kentucky is Hard to Guard

Lamont Butler’s uncertainty casts a shadow of doubt on the future. Kentucky’s won games without Butler. They’re still incredibly hard to guard and that’s why the Sooners are in Norman instead of Nashville on Friday.

“They got a lot of weapons. They’ve got two really good passing bigs. They have some elite shooters. They have (Andrew) Carr. Almost all of them can knock down threes. Everybody can shoot. It’s tough to pick your poison when you’re spaced out with Otega (Oweh) going downhill the way he does,” said Porter Moser.

“I think they can make a long run. They got some older guys, veterans, winners. I believe their offense is hard to guard. So I think getting in this tournament, people are going to have to adjust, five out. Not too many teams have two bigs that can pass like they do. They run excellent stuff at that five out. I think they’re going to be a hard out.”