Can OU basketball upset UConn in March Madness opener? Here's what Dan Hurley says
RALEIGH, N.C. — Porter Moser trotted out to midcourt, glanced up at the jumbotron and surveyed the 19,500-seat Lenovo Center during Oklahoma’s shootaround on Thursday.
It took him four seasons but Moser is back in the NCAA men's basketball tournament for the third time and first time with the Sooners. Moser’s history in March Madness is well-documented. He led Loyola Chicago to the Final Four in 2018 and Sweet 16 in 2021.
“This tournament, there's nothing like it,” Moser said. “The thing you look forward to, you work all summer, everything, to be on this stage to where it's win and advance. So what we're looking forward to is competing to get a win and one at a time.”
On the other side, UConn’s Dan Hurley arrived as the two-time defending national champion. The Huskies finished the regular season 23-10 and 14-6 in the Big East, a down year by their standards.
Most have penciled in UConn as a sleeper team due to Hurley’s experience, but he’s not overlooking Moser and OU.
“I think with the way the season's played out, we've been in the news a bunch,” Hurley said. “We get talked about a lot. Yeah, we've earned an 8 seed. We're in the 8-9 game vs. an absolute dogfight with Oklahoma to try to get out of the first round here and play for a Sweet 16 berth. Yeah, we're ready to play.”
Porter Moser, Sooners enter March Madness with a little momentum
Both teams are playing high-level basketball heading into Friday’s first-round matchup. After starting SEC play 4-12, the Sooners have won four of their last seven games, with the three losses coming by five points total.
The Huskies fell to Creighton in the Big East Tournament but recorded five consecutive victories before that.
“They play tough,” Moser said. “They play hard. They move it. They share it. They play the right way. And they've earned the right to say back-to-back National Championships. For us, we're coming in here like we do every opponent. We've faced the No. 1 team in the country probably three different times this year. 14 of the 16 SEC teams spent time in the top 25 this year. So we're not strangers to playing a top team in the country.”
Inside OU’s locker room, confidence is sky high.
The Sooners are led by true freshman guard Jeremiah Fears, who is averaging 25.3 points over the last four games. He scored a career-high 31 vs. Missouri, 29 vs. Georgia and 28 vs. Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.
“My teammates did a great job of helping me continue to stay confident throughout the whole season,” Fears said. “Whether my shot is falling or not, I need to continue being a leader and take on the point guard role and position. I just want to give them a lot of praise, that helped and went a long way with me.”
OU basketball wins vs Arizona, Michigan impressed UConn's Dan Hurley
Hurley has been impressed with what he’s seen from OU while scouting the Sooners this week.
“You go back, you watch their nonconference, how well they played in the Bahamas, how well they played to beat Michigan,” Hurley said. “Obviously the Arizona game in the Bahamas, you see what they're capable of. When Fears is dynamic and able to get wherever he wants to go on the court, he triggers a lot of things offensively for them with Moore and Miles.
“They've just got a lot of depth and a lot of weapons, especially at the guard spots with Elvis. They've got a lot of fire power. They're a really, really good offensive team.”
Moser has talked repeatedly the past few years about OU punching its ticket and the unlimited possibilities that come with it. Get in and see what happens.
The Sooners aren’t satisfied with what occurred on Selection Sunday, they want to make a run like the ones Moser always reminisces about. Their quest will start at 9:25 p.m. ET Friday on TNT.
“For us to get in, and I think what's been evident the last four days of practice is they're just not happy to just be here,” Moser said. “Obviously we knew the first step was getting in, and now I think they're really looking forward to competing.”
OU vs. UConn
TIPOFF: 8:25 p.m. Friday at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina (TNT)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball aiming to win 'one at a time' in March Madness
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