Oklahoma was a little bit overlooked this season before ripping off three straight wins to earn the Battle 4 Atlantis crown last week.
Now respect is coming fast and the No. 21 Sooners have jumped into the national polls in front of Tuesday night’s game against Georgia Tech in the SEC/ACC Challenge in Norman, Okla.
Oklahoma (7-0) posted wins over Providence, then-No. 24 Arizona and Louisville to claim the title. All three victories were by five of fewer points.
“Three games in a row with a minute left, the game wasn’t decided,” Sooners coach Porter Moser said. “Your team can build on that. You get confidence in winning close games.
“There’s a million ways to lose games and there are a million ways to find a way to win.”
Oklahoma won its first 10 games last season before finishing the season 20-12 and missing the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners lost six of their final eight games.
Oklahoma figures to receive a good test from Georgia Tech (4-3), which is playing away from home for the first time this season.
Both teams will see a familiar face as Oklahoma leading scorer Jalon Moore (18.4 points per game) began his college career with the Yellow Jackets and Georgia Tech third-leading scorer Javian McCollum (12.8) played last season with the Sooners in his second collegiate stop.
McCollum missed the past two games after being injured in the first half of an 81-58 loss to then-No. 18 Cincinnati on Nov. 23. Yellow Jackets coach Damon Stoudamire was hopeful that both McCollum and Kowacie Reeves Jr. (who sat out the last game) will return against the Sooners.
Moore played two seasons at Georgia Tech under previous coach Josh Pastner before transferring to Oklahoma. He has topped 20 points on five occasions this season.
He scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds on back-to-back days against Arizona and Louisville in the Atlantis tournament. The effort against Louisville came in the title game.
Moore scored just six points against Providence before turning things around.
“Jalon Moore came back to have two monster games,” Moser said. “… He works so hard on his shot. When his feet are set and he’s shot-ready, he can really knock them down.”
Jeremiah Fears, who averages 16.9 points per game, scored a season-high 26 points against Arizona and had 20 against Providence. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week.
Georgia Tech posted victories of 91-67 over Charleston Southern and 87-68 over Central Arkansas since the loss to Cincinnati.
Lance Terry scored 25 points to lead the Yellow Jackets during Saturday’s rout of Central Arkansas. Terry leads the squad with a 14.7 scoring average with Baye Ndongo close behind at 14.0.
Stoudamire said he is looking forward to seeing how his team fares against stiffer competition after the home stretch against mostly light opponents.
“Those games are like the tune-ups or the prelims because the heavyweight fights are coming up,” Stoudamire said. “We have to get better. We’ll play a tough Oklahoma team. I look forward to playing them but I don’t have to go out on the floor. So we have to prepare.”
Particularly concerning were back-to-back home losses to Georgia and Cincinnati. Stoudamire looks at this contest in a similar vein.
“I’m excited about the opportunity because we’ll have another opportunity to see what we look like against a team that looks like the teams we didn’t have success against,” Stoudamire said. “I’m looking forward to that challenge and see how we respond to that.”
The teams have split four previous meetings. In the most recent meeting, the Yellow Jackets notched an 83-72 victory on Nov. 17, 1995.
–Field Level Media
