UConn’s quest for a three-peat is alive.

Completing it’s not a likelihood for the Huskies, who entered the NCAA tournament as an AP unranked No. 8 seed after two seasons as college basketball’s unquestioned best team. But they got the job done Friday in a 67-59 win over No. 9 seed Oklahoma.

After they started the season as the No. 3 team in the nation, it quickly became clear that the Huskies wouldn’t be the juggernauts of years past. A 4-3 start dropped UConn to No. 25 in the AP poll, and it entered the NCAA tournament unranked with a 23-10 record as the third-place finisher in the Big East.

But as of Friday, the Huskies can still dream of cutting now the nets for a third straight season. UConn opened a 32-26 halftime lead over the Sooners and didn’t trail until Oklahoma took a 47-46 lead with 9:03 remaining.

From there, the game was in the balance until an Alex Karaban block in the final minute set the Huskies up with a three-possession lead. Karaban denied a layup attempt by Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore, setting up a pair of Liam McNeeley free throws on the other end for a 66-59 lead with 29 seconds remaining. From there, the game was all but over.

The Huskies will face a much stiffer test in the second round on Sunday. No. 1 seed Florida awaits as one of the favorites to win the tournament. To get there, the Gators will have to go through the two-time reigning champions.

Like he was during UConn’s runs to their titles, Karaban was big down the stretch to help secure Friday’s win. In addition to his critical block, he hit a 3-pointer with 3:40 remaining to extend a one-point UConn lead to four.

He hit another jumper with 2:18 remaining to extend UConn’s lead again to 64-58. When the game was done, Karaban had tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks as a force on both ends of the floor.

Solo Ball led the Huskies with 14 points alongside four rebounds. Tarris Reed Jr. added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears led the game in scoring with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. But he got there on a 5-of-14 shooting night when the whole team struggled in a 32.1% effort from the field and 17.6% (3 of 17) performance from 3-point distance.

The Huskies countered with 42.9% shooting from the field and 24% (6 of 25) shooting from 3-point distance while out-rebounding the Sooners, 41-34.