Oklahoma rode a first half shooting barrage from Umoja Gibson to its third straight victory on Saturday afternoon.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Sooners marched into Manhattan and knocked off the Kansas State Wildcats, closing the regular season out with a 78-71 win at Bramlage Coliseum.
With the victory, OU finished the regular season with an overall record of 17-14, including a 7-11 record in Big 12 play which clinched the 7-seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament. As a result of the loss, the Wildcats (14-16, 6-12) fell down to the 8-seed, and they’ll have to square off against West Virginia in the lone game on Wednesday night in Kansas City.
Needing to bank a third straight victory to keep any slim hopes of an NCAA Tournament bid alive, Gibson come out of the locker room on fire.
The Waco native drained his first four field goal attempts, pouring in 20 first half points to power the OU offense.
Eight first half turnovers from the Sooners kept Kansas State in the game, despite foul trouble keeping the Wildcats’ leading scorer in Nijel Pack on the bench for 17 of the opening 20 minutes. OU only took a 38-37 lead into halftime, and Oklahoma had to withstand a strong start to the second half by Kansas State.
The lead changed a couple of times over the opening four minuets of the second half, but then the Sooners locked in the clamps defensively.
Oklahoma held Kansas State scoreless for four minutes, and Porter Moser’s team found some success in transition, creating turnovers to fuel a 7-0 run.
Marvin Johnson played a key role in the middle of the second half, as the senior transfer added four quick points to help build a six point lead, giving Oklahoma a two possession cushion down the stretch of the contest.
From there, Gibson again took control to close out the win in the regular season finale.
Over the final five minutes of the contest Gibson added another nine points, bringing his total for the afternoon to 29 points.
Tanner Groves also added a double-digit scoring output to support Gibson.
Groves finished with 14 points, also pulling down four rebounds and dishing out three assists in the victory.
Jordan Goldwire was also steady running the offense for the Sooners, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and four assists.
Jalen Hill and Jacob Groves also added eight rebounds apiece, playing a huge role in OU’s 37-22 rebounding advantage over the Wildcats.
Oklahoma will now head to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City with its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The Sooners will open tournament play against either the No. 3-ranked Baylor Bears or the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks.
Regardless of who the Sooners are matchup up against, tip-off from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!
Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!
Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.
More must-reads: