Fears' career-high 31 points leads OU past No. 15 Missouri

Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears scored a career-high 31 points and Oklahoma defeated No. 15 Missouri 96-84 on Wednesday night to boost its NCAA Tournament hopes.

It was Oklahoma's fifth win over a Top 25 team this season, and Missouri was the highest ranked among them. The Sooners (18-12, 5-12 Southeastern Conference) were coming off losses to ranked opponents Kentucky and Ole Miss by a combined four points.

Mark Mitchell scored 18 points and Caleb Grill added 16 points and eight rebounds for Missouri (21-9, 10-7), which has lost three of four.

Missouri thumped Oklahoma 82-58 on Feb. 12, but Oklahoma shot 69% from the field in the first half of the rematch to take a 50-37 lead into the break. It was the Sooners' highest-scoring opening half of the season.

Oklahoma senior Sam Godwin scored 12 points on Senior Night before getting injured with 5:32 left in the first half. He did not return. He sat on the bench in the second half with a large bag of ice wrapped around his right knee and a brace on the leg.

Missouri's T.O. Barrett committed a flagrant 1 foul against Fears, and he made both free throws to put Oklahoma ahead 63-45.

TAKEAWAYS

Oklahoma: The Sooners committed just four turnovers in the first half and nine overall. They had averaged 12.6 per game — 12th in the 16-team SEC.

KEY MOMENT

Fears drove the length of the floor for a layup, scored and was fouled with 47 seconds remaining. He made the free throw to put the Sooners ahead 92-78.

KEY STAT

The Sooners made 25 of 26 free throws, including 19 of 20 in the second half.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma concludes the regular season at Texas on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Oklahoma (18-12, 5-12 SEC) shot 57.1% from the field, 41.2% from 3-point range (7 for 17) and 96.2% from the free throw line (25 for 26) to post a 96-84 Senior Night win against No. 15 Missouri (21-9, 10-7).

• The victory was OU's best of the season in terms of opponent AP rank. Prior to tonight's win over the Tigers, the Sooners beat No. 21 Mississippi State and three teams that were ranked No. 24 at the time of competition (Arizona, Michigan and Vanderbilt).

• Tonight marked the seventh time in nine SEC home games the Sooners shot over 50% from the field. In those nine home contests in league play, OU shot .511 from the field, .403 from 3-point range and .787 from the foul line.

• Oklahoma led by as many as 18 points. Its last such lead was 66-48 after a 3-pointer by Missouri native Luke Northweather at the 11:22 mark of the second half.

• Freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears scored a career-high 31 points for his ninth game of at least 20 points on the season and third in the last five outings. He was 9 for 13 from the field and 12 for 12 from the free throw line (tied a career high for makes) and added four rebounds and five assists while committing a season-low one turnover.

• Over the last five games, Fears is averaging 22.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists per outing. He and Duke's Cooper Flagg are the only freshmen nationally to average at least 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

• Playing in his last home game, senior forward Sam Godwin made all five of his field goal attempts and went 2 for 2 at the free throw line to score 12 points before leaving the game at the 5:32 mark of the first half due to injury. Godwin, who did not return, has made 20 of his last 21 from the field, including each of his last 19.

• A starter in each of OU's last 61 games, Godwin has scored in double figures in three of the last four outings after doing it three times in OU's first 26 contests.

• With Godwin missing most of the game, senior Mohamed Wague finished with a career-high-tying 12 points, his first double-digit effort since scoring 10 at Georgia on Jan. 11. Wague made all four of his field goal attempts and all four of his free throw tries while pulling down five rebounds in a season-high 18 minutes.

• Missouri entered the game averaging 10 steals per game but had just four tonight. The Sooners committed only nine turnovers, its fewest in SEC play.

• OU entered the game leading the SEC and ranked seventh nationally with its .791 season free throw mark. It went 25 for 26 from the stripe tonight (made its first 18 attempts) and is now shooting .798 on the year (the school record is .767 by the 2001-02 Final Four team).

• Oklahoma led 50-37 at halftime. The 50 points were its most in an opening half this season.

• After getting outscored 40-24 in its loss at Missouri on Feb. 12, OU posted a 48-34 advantage in the category tonight.

• The Sooners improved to 116-98 all-time against Missouri and to 66-22 at Lloyd Noble Center. They have won 17 of the last 27 meetings with the Tigers.