OU Meets Kentucky in SEC Tournament Second Round

NORMAN — No. 14 seed Oklahoma (20-12, 6-12 SEC) meets No. 6 seed Kentucky (21-10, 10-8) in a first-round SEC Men's Basketball Tournament game on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. CT inside 19,395-seat Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The winner will play No. 3 seed Alabama in a Friday quarterfinals game at 8:30 p.m.

Thursday's contest will be televised by SEC Network with Karl Ravech (play-by-play), Jimmy Dykes (analyst) and Molly McGrath (reporter) announcing. It will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland (play-by-play) and Kevin Henry (analyst) on the call.

The OU-Kentucky winner will play No. 3 seed Alabama in a Friday quarterfinals game at approximately 8:30 p.m. (televised by SEC Network).

Oklahoma vs. Kentucky
Date: Wednesday, March 13
Tip Time: 8:30 p.m. CT
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Arena: Bridgestone Arena

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Game Notes

SETTING THE SCENE

• Oklahoma made its SEC Tournament debut Wednesday and posted an 81-75 win over No. 11 seed Georgia with the help of .481 field goal and .480 (12-for-25) 3-point shooting. The Sooners, who got 29 points from freshman guard Jeremiah Fears, used a 16-0 second-half run to go from down 64-58 to up 74-64 with 2:55 to go. With starting forward Sam Godwin missing his second straight game due to injury, graduate big man Mohamed Wague got his second consecutive start Wednesday and turned in his best collegiate performance, tying a career high with 12 points, setting a career high with four assists and pulling down a season-high nine rebounds (one shy of his career high).

• Oklahoma is 6-0 in neutral-site games this season. It beat Providence (79-77), No. 24 Arizona (82-77) and Louisville (69-64) on consecutive days in November to win the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, trounced Oklahoma State (80-65) in Oklahoma City on Dec. 14, edged No. 24 Michigan (87-86) in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 18 and handled Georgia on Wednesday in the SEC Tournament first round (81-75). In those six games, freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears has averaged 22.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.2 steals while shooting .500 from the field, .520 from 3-point range (13 for 25) and .833 from the foul line (45 for 54).

• Oklahoma and Kentucky have met four times, with the Wildcats winning all four meetings. UK hit a shot with six seconds left in Norman on Feb. 26 to post an 83-82 win, the teams' only matchup this season.

• Until Saturday at Texas, the Sooners started the same lineup in 14 straight games: forwards Sam Godwin and Jalon Moore, and guards Fears, Brycen Goodine and Duke Miles. Godwin got hurt in last Wednesday's win over Missouri and was replaced the last two games by Wague. Moore and Miles have started every game this season.

• On the season, OU is the only team with two players who rank in the top 16 in the SEC in scoring, and both rank in the top 12. Fears ranks ninth (16.7 ppg) while senior forward Jalon Moore ranks 12th (16.1 ppg).

• Fears, a four-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree and an SEC All-Freshman Team selection, leads the league's frosh in free throws made (169; next most is 110) and free throws attempted (200; next most is 126). He ranks second in scoring (16.7 ppg), assists (4.1 apg), steals (1.6 spg) and free throw percentage (.845) and third in rebounds (4.1 rpg).

• First-year OU guard Brycen Goodine, who is in his sixth year overall, shot .472 from 3-point range in SEC play (42 for 89) and would have led the league in the category if he had enough makes to qualify (he was three conversions shy). On the season, he has made a team-high 59 treys and is shooting .437 from deep. Goodine has started each of the last 16 games and has made at least one triple in each of the last 15 contests.

• After going 3 for 18 (.167) from 3-point range over an eight-game stretch starting Jan. 25 (he was 0 for 9 over the last four outings), super senior guard Kobe Elvis is 11 for 21 (.524) from deep over the last six contests (averaging 8.0 points). Over the last three games, he has 10 assists and two turnovers. Elvis started the season's first 16 games but has come off the bench the last 16.

• Kentucky has won 32 SEC Tournaments and is followed by Alabama (eight), Tennessee (five), Florida (four), Auburn and Mississippi State (three each), Georgia, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt (two each) and Arkansas and LSU (one each). Missouri, South Carolina and Texas A&M have yet to win the SEC Tournament.

• This marks the 14th SEC Tournament to be played in Nashville and 12th at Bridgestone Arena. This is the third straight SEC Tournament played in Nashville, fifth of the last six and 10th of the last 15.

SOONERS HEATING UP

• Oklahoma has won four of its last six games, with the two losses coming by a total of four points. Two of the three wins came against ranked teams (93-87 over No. 21 Mississippi State and 96-84 over No. 15 Missouri, both at home) and the others at rival Texas on Saturday (76-72) and vs. Georgia in the SEC Tournament first round (81-75). The defeats came at the hands of No. 17 Kentucky (83-82) and at Ole Miss (87-84). OU had the lead in the final 20 seconds of both losses.

• Over the six-game stretch, the Sooners are shooting .505 from the field, .417 from 3-point range and .789 from the free throw line.

CHEERS FOR FEARS

• Over the last seven games, Fears is averaging 21.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists per contest. He is 54 for 64 (.844) from the free throw line during the stretch. Since the start of the 1996-97 season (play-by-play era), Fears and first-team All-America point guard and National Freshman of the Year Trae Young (in 2017-18) are the only Sooners to average at least 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists over a seven-game span. Fears is the only SEC player to accomplish the feat this season and one of just five over the past 15 seasons to do it. The others were Alabama's Mark Sears (2023-24), Auburn's Sharife Cooper (2020-21), Kentucky's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2017-18) and LSU's Ben Simmons, (2015-16).

• Fears and Duke's Cooper Flagg are the nation's freshmen to average at least 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Fears is the only SEC player, regardless of class, to average those minimums.

RECAPPING THE FEB. 26 OU-KENTUCKY GAME

• Oklahoma rallied from a nine-point deficit midway through the first half to take a 68-63 lead with 9:40 remaining in the game before eventually falling 83-82 on Feb. 26 to No. 17/23 Kentucky at home. It was the Wildcats' first-ever trip to Norman.

• With Kentucky trailing 82-81, former Sooner Otega Oweh hit a twisting runner in the lane with six seconds left to put UK up by one. OU freshman guard Jeremiah Fears, who hit a buzzer-beating layup at the end of the first half after driving the length of the court, attempted to replicate the play at the end of regulation but his shot was blocked from behind by Oweh just before the buzzer. OU's defeat was its fourth at home in SEC play by four or fewer points.

• Senior forward Jalon Moore scored a team-high 20 points (his first 20-point outing since Jan. 28) with the help of 7-of-12 shooting, and pulled down six rebounds. Fears registered 18 points, a game-high eight rebounds and a game-high-tying six assists. Sixth-year guard Brycen Goodine turned in his best 3-point shooting performance in a month, going 4 for 6 and finishing with 13 points, his first double-digit output in eight games. Graduate guard Kobe Elvis came off the bench to contribute eight points, three assists and two steals in his 14 minutes.

• Kentucky, which represented Oklahoma's eighth ranked opponent in nine games, entered the night with a +3.4 average rebounding margin, but the Sooners posted a 34-31 advantage on the glass. OU outshot UK from the field, .520 to .500.

• Oweh scored 23 of his career-high 28 points in the second half, including Kentucky's last 18.

OU-KENTUCKY SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma has faced Kentucky four times but has yet to beat the Wildcats. Prior to this season's Feb. 26 game, the most recent meeting came in a Maui Invitational first-round contest in 2010-11 in Lahaina, Hawai'i. Terrence Jones logged game highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds for John Calipari's No. 8 UK squad in a 76-64 win. Cade Davis netted 23 points for Jeff Capel's Sooners.

• In a rare non-conference regular season finale, unranked Kentucky edged No. 12 OU 75-74 in Lexington in 1986-87. Guards Ed Davender (21) and Rex Chapman (20) combined for 41 points for the Wildcats, who were coached by Eddie Sutton. Harvey Grant led four Sooners in double figures with 20 points while Darryl "Choo" Kennedy added 18. Billy Tubbs' OU squad finished 24-10 on the year and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

• The first meeting came in the 1945-46 season inside UK's Alumni Gymnasium. Adolph Rupp's Wildcats beat Bruce Drake's OU squad 43-33.

OU'S CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• Oklahoma owns a 48-40 record in conference postseason action, racking up a 23-16 record in the Big Eight Tournament from 1977-1996, a 24-24 mark in the Big 12 Tournament from 1997-2024 and a 1-0 record in the SEC Tournament.

• The Sooners won Big Eight Tournament titles in 1979, 1985, 1988 and 1990, and claimed three straight Big 12 Tournament crowns from 2001-03.

• OU is 28-21 in its opening game in postseason conference tournament play (12-8 in Big Eight, 15-13 in Big 12 and 1-0 in SEC).

• Former head coaches Kelvin Sampson (1995-2006) and Billy Tubbs (1981-1994) each directed the Sooners to 18 conference tournament wins. Sampson was 18-9 and Tubbs 18-11. They each won three titles.

• Under Sampson, OU won 10 straight Big 12 Tournament games from 2001-2004.

PICK YOUR POISON

• Oklahoma is the only team nationally that has had six players each score at least 25 points in a game this season. In fact, no other Power Four team has had more than four players score at least 25 in a game. OU's six are Jeremiah Fears (four times), Brycen Goodine (34 vs. Texas A&M), Jalon Moore (29 vs. Texas), Duke Miles (29 vs. Central Arkansas), Kobe Elvis (26 vs. Providence) and Dayton Forsythe (25 at Ole Miss).

• Seven OU players have each scored 20 or more points in at least one game this season, tied with Alabama and Arkansas for the most in the SEC. Sooners to do it are Moore (12 times), Fears (seven), Goodine and Elvis (twice each) and Forsythe, Miles and Sam Godwin (once each).