Sooners Squeeze By Connecticut, 69-67

Jan 7, 2002

By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Hollis Price made it clear he and his Oklahoma teammates like where they are in the rankings.

The Sooners moved up to a season-best No. 5 on Monday, then beat Connecticut 69-67 for their 11th straight victory.

"We're ranked No. 5 in the nation and if we had lost it would be that way for one day," Price said. "We didn't want that. All year we want No. 5 or higher."

The Sooners (12-1) dominated on the offensive boards and came up with the game's biggest basket. Ebi Ere's driving jumper with 16 seconds to play was Oklahoma's only field goal over the final 5and a half minutes, but it broke a 67-67 tie.

"I was trying to get to the basket or draw a foul or penetrate and dish if they helped," said Ere, a junior college transfer, who finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. "They didn't come after me, and the shot was there."

Connecticut (8-3) had two chances to win the game, but Tony Robertson turned the ball over on the first possession after Ere's game-winner. Oklahoma's Jason Detrick, a 77 percent free-throw shooter, was fouled with 2.8 seconds left and missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

After Connecticut called a timeout with 2.1 seconds left, Johnnie Selvie inbounded the ball to Ben Gordon on the right side. He took two dribbles inside halfcourt and his 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

"I thought I got hit, but the refs aren't going to call it at the end," Gordon said. "The game could have been decided earlier if we had gotten more rebounds."

Price added 17 points for Oklahoma, which finished with a 45-32 rebounding advantage, including 28-12 at the offensive end.

"We got tattooed on the boards," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "That's how we lost the basketball game."

Caron Butler led the Huskies with 25 points, while Selvie had 12, and freshman Emeka Okafor had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight blocked shots.

With Ere scoring 17 points, 1.5 more than his average for the season, Oklahoma took a 40-33 halftime lead. The Sooners were up 66-56 with 5:38 left on a basket by Jabahri Brown. That was Oklahoma's last field goal until Ere's game-winner, and Connecticut tied it 67-67 - the first tie since 6-6 - on a rebound basket by Butler with 46 seconds to play.

"We made some boneheaded plays down the stretch, but we also kept our composure and executed at the end," Price said.

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson was complaining about his team's play in the post, when he was reminded of the rebounding difference.

"I guess I'm looking for bunions on Miss America's feet," he said.

It was the first time Connecticut lost consecutive games at the Hartford Civic Center since the 1996-97 season. The Huskies, who had won five of six, followed a loss to St. Bonaventure in Hartford with a home win over Miami on Saturday, the Hurricanes' first loss.

"We played well, they played better," Butler said. "They just crashed the boards. It's not like we didn't block out, they just converted a lot of them."

The meeting was the schools' first.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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