Jordan Pope scored 27 points as Texas held off a furious second-half rally to beat Oklahoma 77-73 and secure the Longhorns’ first-ever Southeastern Conference win on Wednesday in Norman, Okla.
Tre Johnson scored 16 points and Tramon Mark added 15 points for the Longhorns (12-5, 1-3 SEC), who won for the eighth straight time in the 106th hardcourt version of the Red River Rivalry.
Jalon Moore scored 29 points and had eight rebounds and Jeremiah Fears added 20 points for the Sooners (13-4, 0-4), who have lost four straight games.
Texas led by as many as 23 in the second half but the Sooners rattled off a 24-3 run to get back into the game. Oklahoma shot 70 percent from the field in the second half and 50 percent from behind the arc.
Fears hit his first 3-pointer with 37 seconds left to cut the Texas lead to 75-71. He then notched a steal that led to a Moore dunk and the Sooners were down 75-73. But Texas beat Oklahoma’s full-court press with a long pass and a Mark layup for the final margin. Fears’ 3-pointer in the closing seconds came up short.
Moore drilled a 3-pointer with 3:03 to play that cut the Texas lead to 71-68.
But Johnson answered with a fadeaway jumper to put Texas up 73-68. A Fears turnover set up another Johnson bucket, a fall-away jumper from the free-throw line with 1:19 to play.
The Sooners were ice cold from beyond the arc in the first half, as they connected on just 1-of-8 treys. Texas drilled 6-of-15 3-pointers as Pope, Johnson and Mark each had two triples in the first half.
Arthur Kaluma had a crafty 4-0 run of his own when he finished a highly contested lefty layup at the rim for a bucket and quickly snuck in front of the Oklahoma inbounds pass for a steal and layup to extend the Longhorns’ lead to 16-7 at the 13:39 mark.
Oklahoma got its only 3-pointer of the first half from Kobe Elvis with 4:37 left. But an offensive rebound extended the next Texas possession and Johson hit a long-range triple for a 37-24 lead.
Kadin Shedrick’s tip-in gave Texas a 43-27 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
