Oklahoma men's basketball defeats Mississippi State 93-87

Oklahoma (17-10, 4-10) defeated No. 21 Mississippi State (19-10, 7-7) 93-87 Saturday afternoon inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

The victory for the Sooners snapped a five-game losing streak. The win also kept the NCAA Tournament door cracked for the Sooners, who desperately needed a victory to remain in the conversation for a tournament bid.

Here are three takeaways from the Sooners win:

Jeremiah Fears has another big performance

Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears led the way for the Sooners once again, one game removed from being the Sooners leading scorer against No. 2 Florida.

While the rest of the Sooners largely struggled on offense, the freshman guard kept Oklahoma in the game with his strong first half. Fears finished the half with 15 points on five of eight shooting, continuing the momentum from his 22 point game against the Gators.

underway at the LNC!@jeremiahfears2 || 📺 SEC Network pic.twitter.com/7r8A3dcPPx

— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) February 22, 2025

Fears filled up the boxscore outside of the scoring column as well. He pulled down three rebounds and dished out six assists in the first half. The freshman also came away with one block on the defensive end of the floor.

Senior forward Sam Godwin was the second leading scorer for the Sooners. In the first 20 minutes, the forward was responsible for nine points on four of five shooting. Graduate transfer guard Kobe Elvis supplied six points off of the bench, and senior forward Jalon Moore had a quiet three points on one of seven shooting in the first half.

Fears’ big performance continued into the second half. The freshman guard finished with 27 points on seven of 12 shooting. 12 of Fears’ 27 points came in the second half. Fears was the first freshman with at least 25 points and 10 assists against a ranked opponent since Trae Young in 2018.

“He’s figuring the game out,” head coach Porter Moser said after the win. “When you’re young it’s easy to press and try and make all of the plays. I thought he has settled in nicely these last couple of games and it's all coming for him.”

Sooners ride hot shooting to pull away in the second half

After a poor offensive first half, the Sooners needed a spark and a change on offense if they hoped to come away with a crucial victory against the Bulldogs.

That spark came in the second half as the Sooners completely flipped the script offensively to help them pull away from the Bulldogs and come away with a big win.

After shooting 40% in the first half, the Sooners came out firing in the second and managed to shoot 17 of 25 from the field –68%– and seven of 13 from three. OU put up 59 points in the second and completely flipped the game to come away with a victory.

Moore had 15 points in the second after a quiet three in the first half. Moore was five of nine from the field in the second and finished the game six of 16. Fears added 12 points on two of four shooting in the second and transfer guard Brycen Goodine had nine points on perfect three of three shooting after going scoreless in the first half.

Godwin added eight points to bring his final total to 17. The big man also finished with 10 total rebounds and only had one total turnover for the game. As for overall turnovers, the Sooners only had three in the second half after giving the ball away eight times in the first.

Both teams fall victim to sloppy play in first half

It was not an offensive showcase inside the Lloyd Noble Center in the first half Saturday afternoon. Both teams struggled to find any rhythm offensively and hang onto the basketball.

Heading into the locker room, the score was 37-34, with the Bulldogs holding the slight edge. The Sooners were the better team shooting the ball, however, as OU shot 12 of 30 from the field in the first half –40%–, including four of 13 from three. Mississippi State shot 13 of 35 –37%– from the field and three of 10 from three.

Turnovers were also a problem for both teams in the first half. There were a combined 15 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, with the Sooners committing eight and the Bulldogs committing seven.

Oklahoma held the lead through the majority of the first half. Mississippi State didn’t take their first lead until the 4:37 mark following a tip-in by junior guard Riley Kugel to make the score 25-24. The Bulldogs held onto the lead for the remainder of the half.

Next, the Sooners will take on the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats (18-8, 7-6) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26 inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

“Thank you for believing,” Moser said to the students following the game. “Let’s pack it out again against Kentucky!”

This story was edited by Hannah Bryant.

Oklahoma Men’s Basketball schedule:

Nov. 4: Oklahoma 93, Lindenwood 60

Nov. 11: Oklahoma 73, Northwestern State 57

Nov. 16: Oklahoma 85, Stetson 64

Nov. 21: Oklahoma 84, East Texas A&M 56

Nov. 27: Oklahoma 79, Providence 77

Nov. 28: Oklahoma 82, Arizona 77

Nov. 29: Oklahoma 69, Louisville 64

Dec. 3: Oklahoma 76, Georgia Tech 61

Dec. 7: Oklahoma 94, Alcorn 78

Dec. 14: Oklahoma 80, Oklahoma State 65

Dec. 18: Oklahoma 87, Michigan 86

Dec. 22: Oklahoma 89, Central Arkansas 66

Dec. 29: Oklahoma 89, Prairie View A&M 67

Jan. 4: Alabama 107, Oklahoma 79

Jan. 8: Texas A&M 80, Oklahoma 78

Jan. 11: Georgia 72, Oklahoma 62

Jan. 15: Texas, 77, Oklahoma 73

Jan. 18: Oklahoma 82, South Carolina 62

Jan. 25: Oklahoma 65, Arkansas 62

Jan. 28: Texas A&M 75, Oklahoma 68

Feb. 1: Oklahoma 97, Vanderbilt 67

Feb. 4: Auburn 98, Oklahoma 70

Feb. 8: Tennessee 70, Oklahoma 52

Feb. 12: Missouri 82, Oklahoma 58

Feb. 15: LSU 82, Oklahoma 79

Feb. 18: Florida 85, Oklahoma 62

Feb. 22: vs. Mississippi State at noon (TV: SEC Network)

Feb. 26: vs. Kentucky at 8 p.m. (TV: SEC Network)

March 1: at Mississippi at 1 p.m. (TV: ESPN or ESPN2)

March 5: vs. Missouri at 7 p.m. (TV: SEC Network)

March 8: at Texas at 7 p.m. (TV: SEC Network)

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