Oklahoma was tested on Thanksgiving night. Big-time.
But the Sooners got big-time performances from Jeremiah Fears and Jalon Moore and took down No. 24 Arizona 82-77 on Thursday in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena in The Bahamas.
OU will play Louisville on Friday in the championship game at 4:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
The Sooners (6-0) led by as many as 13 in the first half as the Wildcats (3-3) made just 2-of-17 from the field to open the game.
But Arizona pursued all night before a barrage of missed 3-pointers and offensive rebounds in the final seconds. The Sooners finally clinched it when Fears gathered a baseline rebound in traffic and made two free throws on the other end that gave OU a five-point lead and all but salted it away.
Fears scored 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting with five assists and five rebounds, while Moore scored 24 on 7-of-15 shooting with seven rebounds. Fears and Moore combined to shoot 16-of-17 from the free throw line.
“Players make plays, and these guys made a ton of plays today,” OU coach Porter Moser said.
The Sooners suffered turnover problems in Wednesday’s tense first-round win over Providence, and they were back at it again on Thursday, committing 17 turnovers that allowed the Wildcats to stick around.
Fears drained a long 3-pointer with 13:18 left to stretch the Sooners’ lead to 51-44, and then dropped in a pull-up jump shot to make it 53-44.
Arizona scored back-to-back transition buckets, however, and then induced Glenn Taylor into a charge as the Sooners led 53-48 with 11:47 on the clock, and came out of the media timeout with a layup by Caleb Love to cut it 53-50.
Sam Godwin’s offensive rebound and kickoff to Duke Miles led to another Oklahoma 3, and Jalen Moore and Taylor connected on back-to-back 3s to put the Sooners up 62-55 with 9:17 left.
“Every time they cut it 4,” Moser said, “we kept on fighting back.”
Moore then converted a long, fast-break pass from Taylor into a bucket and free throw to push OU to a 65-55 lead at the 8:55 mark.
Then Luke Northweather’s straightaway 3 with 8:18 put the Sooners up 11, 68-57.
Oklahoma’s lead was still 10 with 7:09 before the Wildcats scored back-to-back buckets to cut it 6.
That’s when Miles took a swing pass from Kobe Elvis and drained another 3 for a 72-63 lead, and Moore turned a quick baseline drive into an easy layup that gave OU a 74-65 lead with 4:58 to go.
“Jeremiah is beyond his years,” Moser said. “I always said he came in humble. He came in not entitled. Came in trying to learn. And I think it bothered him a lot that he had eight turnovers yesterday. I think that he really took it to heart, and he had the ball in his hand so much against two very good defensive teams.
“No puns,” Moser added, “he has no fear with that.”
A big-time rebound in traffic by Northweather led to a runout by Taylor, who raced downcourt and drew a goaltending call for a 76-65 lead with 4:04 showing.
Arizona cut it to seven, 76-69, at the final media timeout with 3:23 to go.
Miles then took the shot clock all the way down before bouncing a drive off the rim and in for a 78-69 lead at the 2:55 mark.
The Wildcats trapped Taylor for a turnover, which resulted in a layup by Jaden Bradley that cut it 78-71, and a shot clock violation by the Sooners led to another bucket by Trey Townsend that made it 78-73.
Oklahoma had two possessions thanks to a quick missed 3 by Taylor and a Northweather offensive board, but the Sooners triggered quickly again.
That led to two free throws by Bradley with 1:14 left that cut OU’s lead to 78-75.
Fears missed a turnaround jumper with 47 seconds left, setting up Arizona’s last gasp that featured some strong low-post defense by the Sooners, including a big block by Northweather.
“We hung in there and hung in there and hung in there and had shots,” said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.
Moore credited his guards with getting him the ball and his coaches for “staying up all night” working on the game plan. But Moser credited Moore.
“I mean, he got into transition, he got his feet set on his 3. He got offensive rebounds,” Moser said. “I thought his defense was the best that had, you know? And just an all around big game. And the other guy’s feed off that, you know? Energy’s contagious, man. It’s contagious, and so is negative energy. And these guys had some positive energy,”
Miles finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, and Northweather had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
“I was born and raised Catholic, and I didn’t mind that I heard Luke use some profanity fighting in there for some rebounds,” Moser said. “He got, like, three toughness, angry rebounds. And those are the ones that that are that are going to separate him.”
OU established itself early with defense, particularly stops in transition.
“I wanted them to see eight eyes, eight arms,” Moser said. “You know, a lot of times we talk about six eyes, six arms. And we said with Arizona’s transition, we got to see eight eyes, eight arms. … The players did it.”
