University of Oklahoma Athletics
University of Oklahoma
20-14,6-12SEC
Connecticut
24-10,14-6Big East
Sooners Downed by UConn in NCAA Tournament
March 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — UConn's improbable bid for a third straight national title continued when Alex Karaban came through with a critical 3-pointer and a floater in the lane during a late run that helped the Huskies hold off Oklahoma 67-59 on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Karaban had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (24-10), the No. 8 in seed in the West Region who extended their March Madness winning streak to 13 games, tied with Duke from 1991-93 for the second-longest without missing a tournament.
Karaban's 3 on the catch from the right wing at the 3:40 mark gave UConn a four-point lead, and he followed with the floater at the 2:18 mark that pushed UConn ahead 64-58.
Solo Ball scored 14 points to help coach Dan Hurley's Huskies advance to face top region seed Florida, a popular pick both to end UConn's run and win the national title.
Freshman Jeremiah Fears had 20 points to lead the ninth-seeded Sooners (20-14), who shot 32.1% and made 3 of 17 3-pointers. Oklahoma, which took a 47-46 lead with 9:03 left and trailed by just one (57-56) with 4 minutes to go, managed just one field goal over the last 6 minutes.
TAKEAWAYS
Oklahoma: The Sooners were part of the Southeastern Conference's record haul of 14 NCAA bids. Eight of the league's teams advanced to the second round.
UConn: The Huskies stand alongside Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) as the only teams to win back-to-back titles since UCLA's run of seven straight from 1967-73. While they haven't looked like a national title contender since they lost three straight games in Maui in November, they're still alive for a three-peat after a tough offensive night that included freshman Liam McNeeley missing 11 of 13 shots.
OU POSTGAME NOTES
• No. 9 seed Oklahoma, which played 22 games against NCAA Tournament teams this season, ended the campaign with a 20-14 record. It tied for the program's most wins since the 2015-16 Final Four team went 29-8 (also 20 wins last season).
• No. 8 seed UConn improved to 24-10 on the year and won its 13th straight NCAA Tournament game (it won the last two national championships).
• The game was tied 54-54 with 6:00 remaining.
• Oklahoma outscored UConn from the free throw line 22-13. The Sooners, who entered the week ranked seventh nationally with their .793 season free throw percentage, went 22 for 27 (.815) tonight while the Huskies were 13 for 18 (.722). OU upped its season percentage to .795 to break the previous single-season program record of .767 held by the 2001-02 Final Four team.
• In his NCAA Tournament debut, freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears finished with a game-high 20 points and added six rebounds, a game-high-tying four assists and two steals. He scored at least 20 points in each of the last three games, four of the last five and six of the last nine.
• Over the last nine contests, Fears averaged 22.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists. He went 68 for 79 (.861) from the free throw line in those games. He is the only SEC player and one of just two Sooners (Trae Young in 2017-18 is the other) since the start of the 1996-97 season to average at least 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists over a nine-game span.
• Fears finished the season averaging team highs of 17.1 points, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game, and ranked third on the squad with his 4.1 rebounds per contest. He ranks second in the SEC with his 183 free throws and 214 attempts (shot .851).
• Fears finished the year ranked second in OU freshman history in steals (56), free throw makes (183) and free throw attempts (215), fourth in points (581), fifth in points per game (17.1) and assists (140) and sixth in field goals (180) and games started (31).
• After scoring two points in the first half (0 for 5 field goal shooting), senior forward Jalon Moore scored 11 in the second half (4 for 8) to finish with 13 in his first career NCAA Tournament game. He added seven rebounds. Moore scored in double figures a team-high 31 times in 34 games on the year and finished the year averaging 15.9 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per outing.
• Graduate forward/center Mohamed Wague started his fourth straight game (his only starts of the season) in place of injured Sam Godwin and finished with nine points, a career-high 12 rebounds, a block and a steal in a career-high 28 minutes. Wague, who was a member of Alabama's Final Four team last season, averaged 10.0 points and 9.0 rebounds over the last three games. Prior to the stretch, he averaged 3.3 points and 2.5 boards per contest.
• Sixth-year guard Brycen Goodine registered a career-high four steals tonight. The first-year Sooner scored five points and added two rebounds.
• OU's .321 field goal percentage tonight tied for its second lowest of the season while its .176 3-point field goal mark was its second lowest. The Sooners' three 3-pointers tied a season low.
• Prior to tonight, Oklahoma had won its opening NCAA Tournament game in each of its last two appearances, in four of its last five and in 11 of its last 16.
• This marked OU's second NCAA Tournament No. 9 seed. In 2019, Lon Kruger's ninth-seeded Sooners beat No. 8 seed Ole Miss 95-72 in Columbia, S.C.
