For Oklahoma and South Carolina, the NCAA Tournament might as well begin this week, because another loss for either team may well eliminate them from the Big Dance.
That may sound like hyperbole in mid-January, but with both teams already floundering in the unforgiving Southeastern Conference standings, a win is beyond necessary when the Sooners and Gamecocks meet in Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday night.
“You’ve got to start throwing some wins in the win column,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said after his team lost to Florida last week. “This league is unforgiving.”
Moser led the Sooners (11-7, 1-4 SEC) to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four seasons last year, but his squad is reeling right now, having lost four straight.
That includes an 83-81 setback to No. 18 Alabama on Saturday. Xzayvier Brown scored a team-high 21 points, but he missed when it counted most.
Brown leads the SEC and is tied for 10th nationally in free-throw shooting. He is shooting 92.4% (61 of 66) from the charity stripe, but with seven seconds left, he missed the third of three free throws with the Sooners down one.
Nijel Pack missed a 3-pointer, and Oklahoma found itself again on the wrong side of a result.
Derrion Reid added 16 points and nine rebounds before leaving the game with five-plus minutes remaining due to a leg injury. Tae Davis had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Pack scored 12 points.
“I thought we were really physical, doing some great things defensively,” Moser said. “We had our opportunities.”
The Sooners get another chance for a vital league win against South Carolina (10-8, 1-4 SEC), a squad that has lost three straight games. Coach Lamont Paris’ team was one of just two SEC squads to miss the NCAA Tournament last season, and this year’s group is running out of chances to prove it belongs.
Meechie Johnson had 17 points, six assists, and five rebounds, but the Gamecocks could not get over the hump in a 71-67 loss to Auburn on Saturday.
South Carolina trailed throughout, but got within three points twice late, the last when Mike Sharavjamts, who had 13 points, made a layup with 17 seconds left.
“I said, ‘This is the most important game of the year by far. It’s not even close. … Because we are going to decide today who we are as competitors, who we are as a team, as teammates, and as a unit,'” Paris said. “We came out and played as if those things did matter to us.”
–Field Level Media
