No. 24 Oklahoma defeated its third consecutive top 10 on Saturday, overcoming the loss of two starters to beat Alabama 66-61. The Sooners announced just before the game that there would be no star player Austin Reaves and starting key Alondes Williams due to the COVID-19 protocol.
The game was part of the SEC / Big 12 challenge and was played on the Oklahoma court in Norman. The Sooners were led by playmaker De’Vion Harmon, who scored 18 points with four rebounds and four assists.
After the game, Oklahoma guard Elijah Harkless it cast a shadow over Alabama and the SEC as a whole.
“I think at the beginning they were surprised at how well we played defense,” said Harkless, via Joe Buettner of The Norman Transcript. “They didn’t play a lot of Big 12 teams. The SEC, they’re kind of closed now. “
Harkless ended the game with 14 points and five rebounds.
Oklahoma wasted no time showing Alabama that they were getting ready to play. Oklahoma jumped with an 11-2 lead and, while Alabama responded, the Sooners were the aggressor all along. Oklahoma had another run in the middle of the second half, taking a 55-43 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining. But Alex Reese got two points right, Keon Ellis made a layup and Jaden Schackelford hit 3 points to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 55-54. And Alabama led when Ellis hit two free throws with 3:44 remaining.
Crimson Tide scored just one point the rest of the way, with Oklahoma taking the lead and climbing 63-60 with four consecutive free throws from Jalen Hill. And with the Sooners leading 63-61, Elijah Harkless hit a difficult fadeaway jump to help seal the game for Oklahoma and interrupt Alabama’s winning streak in 10 games. Oklahoma’s winning streak is now five games, largely thanks to De’Vion Harmon’s performance with an 18 point high.
After the game, head coach Lon Kruger met with the media to discuss the victory.
“Yes, obviously a very disputed game from start to finish,” said Kruger. “There was never much margin. We had a little bit of one there in the second half, and that quickly disappeared because Alabama is good, obviously. But [I’m] pride of our boys, happy for the boys. They continue to work, continue to make progress and understand that we have to keep doing this. “