OU men's basketball falls to No. 2 Florida 85-63, extends losing streak to five

Oklahoma (16-10, 3-10) lost to No. 2 Florida (23-3, 10-3), 85-63 Tuesday night in Gainesville, Florida.

The loss to the Gators extended the Sooners’ losing streak to five games. Defeating a top-two team on their home court is a difficult task under any circumstances, but the Gators made things especially tough on the Sooners and dominated them for 35 of the game’s 40 minutes.

Here are three takeaways from the Sooners’ loss:

Gators catch fire from deep early, Sooners start cold

Both teams let the ball fly from deep in the first half. However, the rate at which the shots went through the basket was not shared between the Gators and the Sooners.

In total, both teams shot a combined 31 three pointers in the first 20 minutes. Florida found much more success than the Sooners did, and that helped the Gators take a 22-point, 46-24 lead into the halftime locker room.

Florida shot nine of 20 from deep in the first 20 minutes. After struggling from deep in the first 10 minutes of the half, the Gators caught fire and sank five threes on five straight possessions and pushed what was a six point lead out to 20 points in the blink of an eye.

Senior guards Walter Clayton Jr and Will Richard led the way for the Gators with three three-pointers each. Junior guard Denzel Aberdeen, sophomore guard Urban Klavzar and senior guard Alijah Martin all made one triple.

For the Sooners, the deep balls weren’t falling nearly as efficiently. Oklahoma only managed to shoot two of 11 from three in the first half. The three-point struggles were part of a larger offensive struggle in the half where the Sooners shot seven of 26 from the field. Eight of the Sooners 24 first half points came courtesy of the free throw line.

Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears went two of five from deep to lead the Sooners. Transfer guards Brycen Goodine and Kobe Elvis, as well as senior forward Jalon Moore and sophomore forward Luke Northweather all attempted threes and made none of them.

The Sooners shot slightly better from deep in the second half. Oklahoma finished seven of 20 from three for the game after making five threes in the second frame. Florida cooled off from deep in the second, finishing 12 of 32 from three after going three of 12 in the second half.

Sooners struggle with turnovers again

Oklahoma’s struggle to keep control of the basketball in SEC play came out once again in the first half against the Gators. As the Sooners looked to pull off an improbable upset, turnovers needed to be kept to a minimum.

The Sooners gave the ball away seven total times in the first half. While not their highest single-half total this year, those seven turnovers turned into 11 points the other way for the Gators.

Transfer forward Mohamed Wague led the way with three turnovers in the first half. Senior forward Sam Godwin and Fears each had one turnover, and as a team the Sooners had two additional turnovers.

Conversely, the Gators only gave the ball away to the Sooners one time in the first half. The Sooners were unable to cash that turnover in for points and finished the first half with zero points off of turnovers.

The Sooners turnover struggles continued into the second half. Oklahoma finished with 13 total turnovers, which turned into 18 total points for the Gators the other way.

Jeremiah Fears leads the way for the Sooners

Despite the entire team struggling on the offensive end of the floor, Fears was able to put together a solid performance offensively.

Fears finished the game with 22 points on seven of 15 shooting, including four of eight from three-point range. The freshman guard also pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists. Fears also committed three turnovers.

Fears for 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/eA38CHf5sc
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) February 19, 2025

Fears doubled up the next leading scorer for the Sooners, which was Moore who finished with 11 points. Goodine finished with eight points and Elvis scored six points off of the bench.

Next, the Sooners are back at home when they take on the No. 21 Mississippi State Bulldogs (18-7, 6-6) at noon on Saturday, Feb. 22 inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

This story was edited by Hannah Bryant.