No. 8 UConn men's basketball survives No. 9 Oklahoma in NCAA Tournament first round, 67-59

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Mar 22, 2025

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The madness was maddening at the Lenovo Center, but as sloppy as it got, the UConn men’s basketball team wasn’t going to give up its crown Friday night.

Captain Alex Karaban provided the final push down the stretch as the No. 8 seeded Huskies took down No. 9 Oklahoma, 67-59, for their 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament win.

It was a night to forget through Karaban’s first 35 minutes. But UConn’s captain, the only returning starter from the last two national championship teams, scored seven of his 13 points in the final five minutes and blocked a layup attempt from Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore with 38 seconds left to seal the victory.

UConn improved to 21-4 in first-round games since seeding began in 1979. The reigning back-to-back national champions will have their work cut out for them against No. 1 seed Florida on Sunday.

Solo Ball scored eight points in the second half to finish with a team-high 14, and Tarris Reed Jr. added 12 and seven rebounds as the Huskies finished with a 41-35 advantage on the glass. The Huskies led for more than 38 minutes in the game, which was a nail-biter down the stretch.

UConn raced out to an 11-2 start, looking like it belonged in the tournament it’s dominated for the last two years. The Huskies made five of their first seven shots from the field, taking advantage of an active defensive effort that forced an 0-for-5 Oklahoma start.

There was a three-minute scoring drought between 3-pointers from Liam McNeeley and Aidan Mahaney, and star Sooners freshman Jeremiah Fears showed why he’s projecting as a lottery pick as he banked in a 3-pointer and finished a layup off a sweet spin move to cut the Huskies’ lead to three. Outside of Fears, who had a game-high 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting at the half, Oklahoma shot just 4 for 18 (22%) from the field in the opening half.

Fears finished with a game-high 20 points, plus five rebounds and four assists.

Reed was a force down low, scoring eight points on 4-for-5 shooting to start his NCAA Tournament career, using a spin move to finish at the rim and get the UConn crowd chanting as Oklahoma coach Porter Moser called timeout. Ball made his second 3 of the game about a minute later to give the Huskies their first double-figure lead, but the last five minutes of the half were ugly. Neither team made another shot from the field and the Sooners repeatedly got to the free-throw line to cut it to six, 32-26, at the break.

The second half got even sloppier as the ball rolled around on the floor, both teams turning it over five times in the first nine minutes. The Huskies’ lead grew back to nine after they finally connected on a lob pass to Johnson, who laid it in through a foul but missed the free throw with 13:15 on the clock.

The Sooners clawed back again without making a shot from the field, bringing the score to within two on a possession that featured two missed layups, two offensive rebounds and a foul on a 3-point attempt. Center Mohamed Wague gave Oklahoma its first lead of the game with a personal 7-0 run at the nine-minute mark.

Ball, out for the early part of the second half with three fouls, responded by scoring eight of UConn’s next 10 points to maintain a slim advantage. And Karaban, who started just 2 for 8 from the field, nailed his first 3-pointer of the night and made a floater to push the lead to six with two minutes to play.