No. 12 Oklahoma faces its stiffest test of the season to date against No. 5 Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
It’s the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams and the beginning of a sprint to March through an 18-game league schedule.
There are 10 SEC teams in the AP Top 25 and five in the Top 10. Oklahoma coach Porter Moser started to lobby the NCAA Tournament selection committee members early when it comes to the grind each SEC team will face.
“I don’t want to hear a narrative this year that a league can only have a certain number of teams in (the NCAA Tournament),” Moser said. “That was the narrative last year. There should be no narrative. The SEC is the best league in the country.
“Look what we’ve done against everyone else in the nonconference (schedule). Every night in the SEC is going to be an elite Quad 1 game. We have 16 Quad 1 and two Quad 2 games left, come on, who else has that?”
In its final tuneup before SEC play, Oklahoma (13-0) picked up an 89-67 home win against Prairie View A&M on Sunday. Jalon Moore led the Sooners with 22 points, Jeremiah Fears scored 19 and Duke Miles added 17.
Fears was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Dec. 23 and leads the Sooners with 18.1 points per game.
“One of the biggest takeaways for me is how well we came together,” Fears said. “We did a great job of coming together and believing in each other. We got this far, so why not just put our head down and keep working hard?”
Alabama (11-2) topped South Dakota State 105-82 at home on Sunday as reserve Aden Holloway scored a game-high 26 points. Labaron Philon, who has won SEC Freshman of the Week honors twice this season, scored 21 and Mark Sears had 20.
Holloway, a sophomore guard who transferred from in-state rival Auburn, more than doubled his scoring average of 10.4 ppg against SDSU. A McDonald’s All American in 2023, Holloway shot 8-of-19 from 3-point range as he set new career highs in points and made treys.
Derrion Reid missed the game with an ankle injury suffered in practice and Houston Mallette sat out with an illness, which meant more court time was available for Holloway.
“He got to play 27 minutes,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “It’s a little easier to make eight 3-pointers when you shoot 19. Honestly, he should have had over 20, he turned down a couple. It helped him get in some rhythm.”
The Crimson Tide are led by Sears’ 18.0 ppg while Grant Nelson adds 13.2 ppg and a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game. Alabama won the SEC Tournament in 2023, and Oats said it’s important to get off to a good start at home.
“Oklahoma has far exceeded everyone’s expectations,” Oats said. “This is not going to be an easy game. Their talent level is good. They have a really good coach; Porter took Loyola to the Final Four. They play hard and are going to be tough to beat. If you want any chance of winning the SEC, you’ve got to protect your home floor.”
–Field Level Media
