Bye bye, Miss SEC Tournament Double Bye.
The Oklahoma Sooners obtained revenge for an overtime loss earlier in January with a crushing win against the Mizzou Tigers, 80-64.
While the loss won’t harm the March hopes for Mizzou, it kills its fourth place bid in the conference and eliminates them from double bye contention in the SEC tournament, hence the sad song. Meanwhile, Oklahoma was in desperate need of a win. According to Joe Lunardi, the Sooners currently have a 4.9 percent chance of making the NCAA
Tournament and need an exceptional run down the stretch.
Right out the gate, the Tigers lacked any bit of energy and seemed they were all roar, no bite. Shots did not fall and soon they were staring down the barrel of a 2-9 roll from the floor. Out of a media timeout, Gates seemed to the team back on its feet to claim its first (and only) lead at 9-8.
Then, Oklahoma Head Coach Porter Moser was called for a technical and rallied the troops. Boomer Sooner, the home team hit back-to-back threes and then went on a 7-0 run.
All season, the Tigers have dictated games within the paint. They love to make it difficult for opponents to find its grove within the interior and then force its opponent to turn to perimeter shooting, seemingly a perfect equation for a win against the paint-loving Sooners.
In OU’s last two games, they’ve controlled the paint and won both games by outshooting its opponents. That wasn’t needed on Tuesday night, as they knocked down 12 threes, compared to Mizzou’s eight and shot 55 percent from beyond the arc. Granted, they still found success in the interior with a total of 26 points in the paint, but it’s three-point shooting proved all the difference.
For the Sooners, Jadon Jones, who’s averaged 5.8 points per game this season, broke out and led his team with 13 points. On senior night, the guard reveled in the celebration and brought the home crowd a needed win. Five Sooners ended the night with ten-plus points.
Who was contained? Mizzou’s own T.O. Barrett as well as most of the offense. An Oklahoma native, Barrett only had five points on 2-7 shooting and couldn’t finesse his way into the double-digit column like he’d done so many games before. He also fouled out, along with other backup point guard Anthony Robinson II, with a few minutes left in the game.
Mark Mitchell knocked down a team-leading 17 points and was 6-6 from the floor. Robinson and Trent Pierce also tried to help the Tigers claw its way back in it with a couple of threes but it couldn’t garner any momentum.
Still harping on the Mizzou offense, the lack of ball control was killer. They picked up ten turnovers in the first half and the tally kept growing in the second. The Sooners took full control off the situation and nabbed 25 points off the errors.
OU also wasn’t the best at holding onto the basketball, resulting in 15 turnovers of their own, but the Tigers were only able to collect 13 points off those errors.
On the plus side, the Mizzou defense held Oklahoma to ZERO second chance points even though OU out-rebounded them in the end.
Super Tuesday generally refers to the Tuesday in a presidential election year when the largest number of states hold a primary. While 2026 isn’t a presidential election year and Mizzou basketball has nothing to do with politics, a staggering seven SEC games occurred on the night of March 3rd.
On this Tuesday, the Tigers were pounced on. With 30 seconds left in the game, the Sooners sent the senior subs in and sealed the deal.
Dennis Gates and crew will look to make amends and finish with a clean slate at 11 a.m. Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Let’s hope Mizzou’s Senior Day was as sweet as Oklahoma’s was on Tuesday, eh?
