OU earns win No. 20 in gutty OT effort vs. Cincinnati

It’s all OU super senior Rivaldo Soares has talked about this entire season – getting to the NCAA Tournament. He has never been, nobody on the OU roster has been.

But that might have changed. Shorthanded and playing lineups we’ve never seen together, it was guts. It had to be guts for OU in a 74-71 overtime victory against visiting Cincinnati on Tuesday evening.

As OU congratulated itself for the turnaround effort, there was head coach Porter Moser and Soares embracing near half court.

Whatever issues might have been there initially with the two – they are living for this moment. They earned this moment.

“I mean, that’s why I came here,” Soares said. “You know—again, like, I have trouble explaining that because all the emotions that come behind it, but that’s why I came here, and I’m glad we were able to do it.”

Soares looked like he re-injured his left ankle in the second half. But nothing was going to keep him from going back out there, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.

“Man, I tell you our relationship has come so far with Waldo,” Moser said. “Just to see him fight through some things and I told him one time earlier when he was struggling, I said you know what’s crazy is you and I are a lot alike. Like we talk about it, sometimes that’s why we were clashing a little bit earlier.

“He’s just so passionate, and he wears his heart on his sleeve and he does everything with passion. To see him come from where he was — 16 and nine tonight. He was emotional tonight. I was emotional tonight. He wants to get in the NCAA Tournament so bad. Knows this is his last shot. He knows what this game meant, and that’s why I just wanted to embrace him like a son.”

UC led by 13 points in the first half. OU’s largest lead? The final score. Hey, it only matters when you’re leading, not how long.

Porter Moser with the embrace with Rivaldo Soares.#Sooners 74, UC 71 – OT final.

The first 20-win regular season for #OU since 2016 (Buddy Hield, Final Four). pic.twitter.com/KZZAacOGxH

— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) March 6, 2024

Game 30 Takeaways

*It’s fitting it was senior night because Le’Tre Darthard played incredible for the second game in a row. Without Javian McCollum (shoulder) and with Milos Uzan playing his worst game of his career, OU doesn’t sniff this one without Darthard.

“I just think it’s the opportunity,” Darthard said. “When the opportunity presents itself, you got to attack it. I don’t think it’s too much, just the opportunity, having the confidence, things like that. I’ve been playing basketball my whole life, so I mean it’s just going out there and hooping.”

Darthard scored a team-high 18 points, including 12-for-14 from the free throw line. None of those were bigger than the two he made to have it 74-71 in the final seconds.

*OU is still without John Hugley, but we learned in pregame there would be no Javian McCollum. The OU point guard injured his shoulder in Monday’s practice.

“It was just kind of a freak thing on his shoulder,” Moser said. “And we were waiting and seeing today, because the X rays turned out negative.

“And it just was sore in the morning from, you know, and he couldn’t have range of motion. So we weren’t going to push it if he had no range of motion. And so we’ll know more. I think it’s day to day so we’ll see. I mean everything’s structurally fine, there’s nothing in the X-rays. It’s just getting that range of motion and strength back.”

It wasn’t Uzan, who scored two points before fouling out. It turned out to be Darthard, Soares and Jalon Moore just trying to will themselves to the basket and make something happen. Moore had 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

*Is 20 a magic number? It is the first time for OU to have a 20-win regular season since the Final Four run with Buddy Hield. The eight conference wins is the most under Moser.

Look, nobody is going to say Tuesday was poetry in motion. But it’s March. And nobody cares how you win, just that you do.

Down early, it was heading toward all-time ugly. But the Sooners (20-10, 8-9) picked themselves up. And honestly? Should be dancing no matter what.

“Oh, absolutely,” Moser said. “No doubt.”

Final word

“That was just one of the guttiest performances I’ve seen under the circumstances. You just look at the circumstances with Senior Night, obviously every game is huge… Then they find out they lose Javian. Then Los fouls out. We’re playing with no point guard. But the guts of Rivaldo. Those guys that were on the floor at the end to find a way to win. We came out and got kind of punched in the face. We settled back down. The belief in these guys, the belief in what they’re doing and winning. But it was just guts. Just to find a way.” – Moser