Sir’Jabari Rice scored 24 points to lead No. 6 Texas to an 85-83 overtime victory over Oklahoma on Saturday in Big 12 play at Austin, Texas.
Marcus Carr added 17 points for the Longhorns (21-6, 10-4 Big 12).
After struggling to score late in regulation, the Longhorns’ offense came alive in overtime.
Texas hit its first five shots in the extra period to grab control — though it still had to hold on in the final seconds.
Down by three, the Sooners opted to get a quick two before the Longhorns’ Tyrese Hunter made one of two free throws with 6.8 seconds left.
Without a timeout left to set up a play, and without inside presence Tanner Groves on the floor, the Sooners had to improvise.
Jalen Hill tried to drive the lane but didn’t find much room to work, instead dumping the ball off to Sam Godwin underneath.
Godwin quickly floated a shot just before the buzzer, but it bounced off the back iron and away to give the Longhorns a sweep of the season series.
Grant Sherfield led the Sooners (13-14, 3-11) with 18 points.
Groves, who scored just eight points, fouled out with 2:30 remaining in regulation.
The last in Texas’ shooting stretch in overtime came on a 3-pointer from Rice, whose hot shooting helped the Longhorns rally from a seven-point deficit with just more than eight minutes to go in regulation.
Rice began heating up with a corner 3-pointer with 7:29 remaining that cut the Oklahoma lead to two.
After the Sooners stretched the lead back to six with free throws, Timmy Allen’s 3-point play cut the margin in half before Rice hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put Texas on top, 70-67.
Both of Rice’s 3-pointers in that stretch came off Oklahoma turnovers.
Rice finished 8 of 13 from the floor, hitting four 3-pointers to equal his season-high scoring output.
The Sooners forced overtime despite hitting just one shot in the final 8:49 of regulation, missing seven consecutive before Sherfield’s step-back 3-pointer over Rice with seven seconds left tied it.
But Oklahoma was able to hang in at the free-throw line and the Longhorns missed their final five shots in regulation to keep the door open for a comeback.
–Field Level Media
