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OU stuns (and then ultimately survives) at No. 15 Vanderbilt, snaps nine-game losing streak

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo02/07/26BPrzybylo

Every possession, you would just see the clock not going down enough for OU basketball. When you’ve lost nine games in a row, you almost forget how to win.

And when you’re in position to win, you invent ways to lose. However, this would have been an all-timer.

OU dominated No. 15 Vanderbilt for 35 minutes and then held on and survived in the final five minutes for a 92-91 victory against the 15th-ranked Commodores in Nashville on Saturday.

The win snaps the nine-game losing streak. The first victory for OU in 35 days. And, of course, it couldn’t come easy.

It was finally sealed when Xzayvier Brown hit two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to give OU a 92-88 advantage. A last-second 3-pointer by Vanderbilt meant absolutely nothing except for how the score is displayed.

For 35 minutes, OU controlled everything. The lead got up 21 points on multiple occasions. The final one being 80-59 with 4:59 left before everything fell apart.

Turnovers, yep. Missed free throws, of course. The Commodores hitting five 3-pointers during that stretch? It couldn’t be easy, was never going to be easy for OU get the monkey off its back.

But, well, it did.

“Just so happy for the guys to close this out,” said head coach Porter Moser in the postgame radio interview. “You could just feel the gravity of, oh, here we go again… So happy for the guys to feel this feeling and finish this off.”

Moser mentioned the team just needed that feeling one time. After absurd, excruciating losses at Missouri and at home against Alabama and Arkansas, just one time OU needed to be rewarded for the effort put in.

And now? OU gets to rest. Finally. The Sooners will get that week off before welcoming Georgia to the Lloyd Noble Center on Valentine’s Day.

Brown led the way with 20 points, one of six OU players that finished in double figures. Nijel Pack added 17 points. Tae Davis scored 14 of the Sooners’ initial 18 points and then never scored again.

Dayton Forsythe came off the bench for 12 points, while Derrion Reid had 11. And Mo Wague showed up with 10 points and eight rebounds.

OU had not lost 10 games in a row in a season in more than 60 years. Nobody saw going on the road against a 19-3 team as the solution. But that’s how it got done.

A lot for the Sooners (12-12, 2-9) to learn in a late-game situation, obviously. For the first time in five weeks, though, at least it’s after a win.

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