Texas Longhorns Hold Off Oklahoma Sooners for First SEC Win
The Texas Longhorns continue to dominate the Red River Rivalry on the hardwood, though their latest victory over the Oklahoma Sooners came with some thrills that head coach Rodney Terry would love to avoid moving forward.
Texas guard Jordan Pope scored a team-high 27 points and the Longhorns won their first SEC game after holding on for a 77-73 win vs. Oklahoma in Norman on Wednesday night. Texas nearly blew a 23-point second-half lead but instead secured the eighth straight win in the series against the Sooners, who now fall to 0-4 in SEC action.
Tre Johnson finished with 16 points and four rebounds while Tramon Mark added 15 points and three rebounds for the Longhorns.
Oklahoma forward Jalon Moore finished with a career-high 29 points, getting most of his production in the second half while willing the Sooners back into the game, but it was Pope 19 second-half points and Johnson's back-to-back jumpers in the final two minutes that dashed any hopes of a comeback for the home fans at Lloyd Noble Center.
In the front of NBA scouts that were also in attendance to watch Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears (20 points, six rebounds), the true freshman Johnson showed up when it mattered most.
The Longhorns began SEC play with a blowout loss on the road to their biggest rival but followed it up with two tight losses to the No. 1 and No. 2 team sin the country. Back-to-back inspiring performances left room for hope, and the Longhorns delivered when they needed it most to avoid an 0-4 start in conference play and secure their biggiest win up to this point in the season.
Johnson scored seven early points highlighted by a triple and a fastbreak dunk as the Longhorns eventually jumped out to a 22-12 lead at the 10:24 mark. The Sooners struggled to find any offense, and Texas took advantage while going 6 of 15 from deep in the first half.
The Longhorns took a 43-27 lead into halftime and looked primed for a blowout road win over their rivals after getting up by as many as 23, but the Sooners used a 19-1 run to cut the lead to three at the 7:45 mark. Pope finally ended Texas' drought and ultimately sealed the win before the final two minutes, scoring 13 straight points for the Longhorns to make it a 69-61 game with 4:15 to play.
Johnson's pair of jumpers came before Mark got loose downcourt on the inbound for an open layup to make it 77-73 with 13 seconds to play.
The Longhorns will now look to carry this momentum headed into Saturday's road matchup against the No. 5 Florida Gators.
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