NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Up one point with six seconds remaining, Oklahoma needed a stop.
Former Sooners guard Otega Oweh, who transferred to Kentucky this past offseason and scored the game-winning bucket to defeat OU on Feb. 26, caught the inbound pass. Who else?
This time, Oweh sprinted to the opposite baseline and floated a towering shot over Jalon Moore‘s outstretched hand.
Dagger. Again.
“I coached Otega,” Sooners coach Porter Moser said when asked about Oweh, “so I know my impression of him.
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“He’s very, very good.”
The Sooners had battled all the way back after trailing by 10 with 1:20 remaining. OU scratched and clawed, winding up with late steals. True freshman guard Jeremiah Fears drilled two clutch buckets, including a go-ahead layup with six seconds left.
But OU let Oweh catch the ball and take it coast to coast as the Sooners fell to Kentucky 85-84 in the second round of the SEC tournament Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. Oweh finished with 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting and the Wildcats advanced to face No. 3-seeded Alabama in the quarterfinals.
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“That last play, obviously emotional, we were going to be in a 1-2-2 trap, trap ’em,” Moser said. “You had the sideline and two players. We let it get around the corner. We knew where they were going. We were going to try to bottle ’em up and trap ’em. The trap was ineffective.
“Once he turned the corner, you just knew. He puts his head down. It’s hard to take a charge, do anything. He’s as fast and powerful in the country. The problem was we were putting him in a box, in a trap, and he turned a corner.”
Over the past seven games, OU is 4-3 with its three losses coming by a combined five points. Closing games has been a struggle for the Sooners this season and they are 3-5 in games decided by three points or less.
OU is 9-19 in games decided by three points or less since 2022.
“I’m heartbroken for those guys because everything we’ve asked these guys to do,” Moser said, “when people counted us out, just kept on every day coming to practice, our staff, just believing. ‘You guys, there’s a path. There’s a path.’
“We beat Mississippi State, we come back, lose heartbreakers for Ole Miss and Kentucky, then we beat Missouri at Texas, Georgia, three Quad 1 wins. Not easy to do with the schedule we’ve had. I’m happy and I’m excited that we’re not done playing. I’m excited to go to battle with these guys again in the tournament.
There’s something to be said for the way the Sooners recovered in front of earsplitting Kentucky fans that took over 90% of the arena.
OU committed just eight turnovers, including only three in the second half.
“That’s the story of this team,” true freshman guard Dayton Forsythe said. “We get counted out and then we have the ultimate resilience. … They went on runs throughout the game, we just kept coming back.
“We kept battling, especially in that last minute, we made some great plays and they obviously made a great play there at the end, and it hurts. But we put ourselves in position to to be happy on Selection Sunday this time, so we’ve got to keep that in mind, and we’ve got to stay positive and ready to go for the tournament.”
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Despite getting off to a slow shooting start, Fears led OU with 28 points on 10 for 22 shooting and just one turnover. He came alive when it mattered most, scoring 10 of the Sooners’ last 14 points.
Over the last eight games, Fears is averaging 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per outing.
“We just continued to keep fighting,” Fears said. “We did a great job of fighting throughout the last three four to minutes. We made a comeback, and my teammates really just trusted me. I gave the ball up to my teammate. I feel like he had open shot, and he gave it back. … That helped and went a long way for me.”
Despite the result, the Sooners can take positives away from the past two days, finding a way to finish against Georgia on Wednesday and especially how they fought back in the second half on Thursday night.
But to lose to that team on a play made by that player stung. The revenge tour, plotted in the locker room postgame following the win over the Bulldogs on Wednesday night, fell just short.
Now, OU (20-13) awaits its fate on Selection Sunday. Most experts have the Sooners safely in the field.
“Really continue to keep our heads up and keep fighting,” Fears said of the message in the coming days. “More basketball for us to play.
“We’re really just staying together through it all.”
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Colton Sulley covers college sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
