UConn Advances After Solid Win Over Oklahoma
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No. 8 UConn men’s basketball handled 9-seeded Oklahoma on Friday night, 67-59, in the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. They advance to face No. 1 Florida on Sunday.
The Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 start after a Samson Johnson block on the opening possession and it was 11-2 four minutes in after a Liam McNeeley three as one of four guys to hit buckets in the early going.
The Huskies were dominating on the glass and cruising with a better shooting percentage even though their threes weren’t falling. Star freshman Jeremiah Fears and the free-throw line kept the Sooners in the game. Both teams were a bit cold and sluggish in the back end of the first half but Fears had 11 at the break and his team had a 13-4 free-throw advantage.
Tarris Reed Jr. and Hassan Diarra were cooking a bit in the first half but both sat after getting two fouls with three and five minutes left, respectively. Foul trouble would become an issue late in the game as Solo Ball also got his second foul with two minutes left and UConn entered the double bonus with over eight minutes remaining in the game.
Nevertheless, UConn took a 32-26 lead into the locker room and had every reason to feel good. A 4-0 OU run to start the second half made the game as close as it had been all day, but UConn quickly responded with a Jaylin Stewart three and a tip in from Johnson.
The fouls started racking up for UConn and Oklahoma started doing a bit better on the glass. Fears and Moore were scoring from all over, as Moore scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. UConn pushed the lead back up to nine but those two Sooner stars were forcing the issue and some untimely calls pushed their free-throw advantage.
The Sooners tied it up as Moore scored five of an 8-1 run that cut the lead to two and then Mohamed Wague scored six straight to give them their first lead of the game.
The lead would be short lived, however as Ball quickly hit a jumper to put UConn back ahead. He scored another four in the next two minutes before another four straight from Moore tied the game at 54 with 6:00 left in the game.
Oklahoma was pushing and things were looking bleak in that moment, with Johnson and Reed Jr. holding four fouls each and five other Huskies at three late in the game. But Ball and Karaban took charge and made sure their season didn’t end on this night.
Ball drew a foul and hit both free throws and then Karaban added two freebies as well before a three that would put UConn up by four with 3:40 left. Reed Jr. tipped in a rebound to push the lead to six and Karaban responded to an OU bucket with a tough jumper of his own to keep it at six with 2:18 left.
The captain blocked a shot on the other side to set up two McNeeley free throws and push the lead to eight in the final minute before grabbing the final defensive rebound needed to ice the game. He finished with 13 points while Ball had a team-high 14 and Reed Jr. was the only other Husky in double-digits in this surprisingly low-scoring affair.
Next up, the Huskies will take on the West Region’s top seed in Florida, who won the SEC Tournament and finished the regular season 30-4. KenPom is currently projecting an 82-71 loss against a Gator squad ranked third in its overall efficiency rankings (1st Offense, 10th Defense).
Next, the Huskies will take on the top-seeded Florida Gators this Sunday at 12:10 PM, with the game airing on CBS.
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