The Red and Black ended the regular season on a heater with four straight wins, shedding the nagging midseason doubts that had them firmly on the March Madness bubble. Tonight they look to keep that momentum going in the postseason, but that’s going to require beating another team that ended the season on a bit of a run of its own.
The ‘Dawgs will take on 14th seed Oklahoma (19-12, 6-12 SEC) tonight in Nashville in the final game of the SEC tournament’s opening round. The late night matchup pits the Hoop Hounds against an Oklahoma team that pulled off back-to-back victories over Missouri and Texas ahead of the tournament.
The 76-72 victory over the Longhorns saw six Sooners score in double figures, led by senior guard Brycen Goodine (who tallied only 3 points in Oklahoma’s regular season meeting with Georgia). The Land Grabbers only committed five turnovers against the Longhorns, and held Texas freshman standout Tre Johnson to an uncharacteristic 0 for 14 performance from the field.
The Sooners will be without forward Sam Godwin, who’s averaged 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season, due to a knee injury. But the Crimson and Cream still feature a deep lineup that will test the Bulldogs, including team-leading scorer Jeremiah Fears (averaging 16.3 points per game) and senior forward Jalen Moore who’s putting up 16.2 per contest.
Tipoff will follow the LSU/Mississippi State game which starts at 6:00 central, with television coverage on SEC Network.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!