OU basketball survives vs. Providence, onto Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals
Take a breath, OU basketball fans. A wild, chaotic ending. Almost a near-impossible collapse from the Sooners.
But it’s a win.
Survive and advance is the mantra of the NCAA Tournament. It was evident to open up the Battle 4 Atlantis as OU ekes out a 79-77 victory against Providence in the first round Wednesday afternoon in the Bahamas.
OU was up 75-66 with just 44 seconds to go when everything went haywire. A fantastic teaching point going forward for head coach Porter Moser. Yea, let’s phrase it like that.
Providence kept attacking and scoring, and OU missed a lot of free throws before the bizarre occurred.
It was OU 79-75 with three seconds left when OU was assessed a technical foul when Jacolb Fredson-Cole attempted to enter the game without being signaled to come in after an OU free throw.
Providence drained both free throws and had a great look at the game-winner, hitting the back rim. And exhale.
The Sooners will play the winner of Arizona-Davidson in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Game No. 5 OU Takeaways
*The disastrous final 30 seconds almost overshadowed a nice, gritty effort by the Sooners. The guards were running the show.
Top 10
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Underranked SEC
Lane Kiffin protests CFP rankings
- 2New
Saban chirped
Big 12 comes after GOAT
- 3
DJ Lagway
Fan flashes Florida QB to Pope
- 4Hot
Strength of Schedule
CFP Top 25 SOS ranking
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Alabama needs a prayer
Tide can make the CFP but needs help
Jeremiah Fears had 20 points, seven assists, four steals – the good. He also had eight turnovers and fouled out – the bad.
Another big-time outing by Kobe Elvis. He showed his ability to create time and time again. Elvis finished with 26 points, shooting 10 of 14 from the field.
It wasn’t the offensive night for Duke Miles, but he did have four steals.
*Back-to-back games of Jalon Moore not reaching 10 points. He was active early but unable to find it the rest of the way. Moore had six points and two rebounds. Will be interesting to see how he bounces back.
*Speaking of bouncing back, Brycen Goodine returned to the lineup. He came off the bench to hit a couple of 3-pointers and was huge with six rebounds.
*Can Luke Northweather build on that? He hit two big 3-pointers in the second half on his way to eight points.
