OU Basketball: Oklahoma Has Been Tested, But Now It's UConn That Awaits in NCAA Tournament

The Sooners have endured one of college basketball's most demanding schedules, so naturally the two-time defending national champs are next.

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser talks with Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and the CBS Sports crew during Thursday's shootaround at the NCAA Tournament Raleigh Regional. / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

RALEIGH, NC — Maybe it’s not a cosmic sign that Oklahoma finally gets back to the NCAA Tournament and their opponent is the two-time defending national champion.

Or maybe it is.

Connecticut still had just four national titles as a program the last time the Sooners even made the Big Dance. Now, after Dan Hurley won two trophies in two years, they have six.

“Well, they've earned that respect,” OU head coach Porter Moser told Sooners On SI during Thursday’s press conference. “Everything that UConn has their way has been earned with the back-to-back National Championships, but that is in the past.”

Hurley said the Huskies have earned something else this season.

“Yeah, we've earned an 8-seed,” he said. “We're in the 8-9 game versus an absolute dogfight with Oklahoma to try to get out of the first round here and play for a Sweet Sixteen berth.”

OU (20-13) is a 9-seed after missing the field in 2022, 2023 and 2024. 

Moser, who elevated Loyola-Chicago to the Sweet Sixteen (2021) and the Final Four (2018) during memorable tournament runs, smiled when asked what he was looking forward to the most after being absent from the postseason for so long.

“This tournament, there's nothing like it,” he said. “The thing you look forward to, you work all summer (and) everything to be on this stage, to where it's ‘win and advance.’ So what we're looking forward to is competing — competing to get a win and one at a time.”

Moser said senior forward Sam Godwin continues to nurse a sprained knee and said has “done absolutely everything” to get ready to play — Moser said he even asked if he thought he could give him just 10 minutes — but acknowledged what sounds like bad news.

“It's going to be hard for him to go tomorrow night,” Moser said, “but I know we're going to wait and see how he does shooting around (Thursday; Godwin did some light work) and also tomorrow in our walk-through.”

That’s a blow for the undersized Sooners to try to hold up against a UConn team known for its physicality down low and its rebounding.

“They absolutely are like an SEC team with the offensive rebounds,” Moser said.

“They have a high-powered offense,” OU forward Jalon Moore said. “In the SEC, there's a lot of teams that have a high-powered offense, like the Tennessees, Georgias, Kentuckys. So just being able to experience teams like that — also in the non-conference schedule, us going up against Arizonas and Michigans — I think that's prepared us to win the game tomorrow.”

Connecticut ranks just 143rd in the nation in offensive rebounding, but Oklahoma ranks 319th. The Huskies are 199th in total rebounds, but OU is 263. Put them together, and UConn is No. 18 nationally in rebounding margin (+6.3), the Sooners are 285th (-2.1).

“Their movement is as good as anybody that I've seen,” Moser said. “They'll do multiple sets, so you get caught up in talking about staggereds, flares, flares, repo. But the thing is you have to rebound the ball. … We know we've got to guard their actions in multiple efforts guarding their movement, but the job's not over. The job's over when you get the rebound because you know they'll go get it.”

Whether a program is stocked with national championship trophies or McDonald’s All-Americans or NBA lottery picks or just old-school blue-blood status, Oklahoma comes into the Lenovo Center (approximate 8:30 p.m. tip time) unbowed. 

After OU was the last unbeaten team standing in non-conference play, things went off the rails for a bit in SEC play. But the team finished strong, winning three straight before a loss in SEC Tournament play.

The Sooners’ first season in the Southeastern Conference was its own Murderer’s Row.

“We've faced the No. 1 team in the country probably three different times this year,” Moser said. “Fourteen of the 16 SEC teams spent time in the top 25 this year. So we're no stranger to playing a top team in the country.

“For us, our focus is on this year's (UConn) team and all the confidence, all the respect we have for their players this year, what they do. They play tough. They play hard. They move it. They share it. They play the right way. And they've earned the right to say back-to-back National Championships.”

For most of the OU roster, this is their first time in the NCAA Tournament.

Kobe Elvis played in two NCAA Tournament games with Dayton in 2024. Brycen Goodine got one minute of playing time in a 2022 tournament game with Providence. Mo Wague played in four games with Alabama in 2024. Glenn Taylor didn’t get to the Big Dance last year with St. John’s but he did go 0-3 against UConn.

“It's my first time, so I really just want to enjoy the experience,” freshman Jeremiah Fears said. “Go out there, leave it all on the court with my brothers and win and advance. That's probably the biggest thing I'm looking forward to in this journey.”

“We watched this growing up,” said Moore, “and to be able to be here is a blessing, blessing from God. I'm also ready to go out there and experience it with my brothers and fight, fight, win and advance. That's what we're here to do.”

To Oklahoma’s roster, playing UConn isn’t an obstacle. It’s an opportunity.

“I think it's a great chance for us to show the world what we're capable of,” Fears said, “just coming together on the big stage. Nothing would be more important than getting a win.”

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