For the first time in the 2024-25 season, Oklahoma ended up on the losing end of the scoreboard — and it wasn’t pretty.
The No. 12 Sooners lost 107-79 to No. 5 Alabama in their Southeastern Conference opener. OU was outplayed on both ends of the floor, and as a result, the Sooners (13-1) picked up their first loss in blowout fashion.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Alabama (12-2) had the size advantage in Saturday’s game, and it showed on the stat sheet.
Grant Nelson, Alabama’s 6-foot-11 center, had his way down low against the Sooners, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Clifford Omoruyi, also 6-11, also got close to a double-double with 10 points and seven boards.
Overall, the Crimson Tide outrebounded the Sooners 51-26. Alabama also collected 22 offensive rebounds to Oklahoma’s eight.
The Crimson Tide outscored the Sooners 56-42 in the paint and logged 25 second-chance points.
Alabama’s backcourt also played well, as guards Mark Sears and Labaron Philon combined for 38 points. But the Crimson Tide’s dominance down low was the biggest gap between the teams on Saturday.
Freshman phenom Jeremiah Fears struggled to get into a rhythm in the first half.
Fears went 1-of-8 on first-half field-goal attempts and finished the half with just one point. The guard has been instrumental for the Sooners’ offense for the entire non-conference season, and his early struggles put OU into a hole, as the Sooners trailed 48-29 at halftime.
Fears played much better in the second half.
He finally began to hit shots, reaching double figures early into the second half. Fears ended the game with 16 points (5-of-15 shooting), five rebounds, three assists and three turnovers.
Entering Saturday’s game, Fears led OU with 18.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He has won SEC Freshman of the Week twice already.
The good news for Oklahoma? A blowout loss counts the same as a close one.
The bad news? Saturday’s loss was ugly by all measures.
The loss to the Crimson Tide is far and away the worst performance of the year for Porter Moser’s team. After Oklahoma successfully mounted comebacks in a handful of games earlier in the year, the Sooners’ offensive and defensive struggles were too prevalent to get them back into the game.
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But it’s a long SEC season, and the Sooners have an opportunity to get to .500 in league play in just a few days.
OU hosts No. 13 Texas A&M, a former Big 12 foe, on Wednesday. The Aggies opened their SEC slate against Texas on Saturday.
After that, the Sooners will battle Georgia and Texas, who are two of the only six unranked SEC teams.
But there really aren’t any bad teams in the SEC — South Carolina is the lowest-ranked team in the NET at No. 85.
It’s a long season, and Sooner fans shouldn’t enter panic mode. But they can’t afford more performances like Saturday’s to win games in the SEC.
