Remaining Big Two Are From the Big Eight : Oklahoma Runs Past Arizona

Stacey King and Harvey Grant each scored 21 points and fourth-ranked Oklahoma pressured second-ranked Arizona out of its game Saturday night, 86-78, setting up an all-Big Eight showdown for college basketball’s national championship.

Oklahoma (35-3) will meet Kansas (26-11), the only unranked team in the Final Four, in Monday night’s championship game. The Jayhawks, two-time losers to Oklahoma this season, beat No. 5 Duke 66-59 in the other semifinal game.

King, a 6-foot-10 junior center and the Sooners’ leading scorer at 22.9 and the NCAA tournament’s leading scorer with 135 points in five games, was charged with his fourth foul with 9:16 remaining in the game and Oklahoma leading, 58-49.

But the Sooners, second in the nation in scoring this season with 104 points per game, turned into a patient team and ran the 45-second clock down on each of its possessions.

The Sooners seemed to take command of the game with an 11-0 run in the first half and they led 39-27 at halftime.

But the Wildcats got within 51-48 with 12:51 left on a three-point play by All-American Sean Elliott. The Sooners then went on a 7-2 run capped by Ricky Grace’s three-pointer with 10:42 left that gave them a 58-49 lead.

King’s fourth foul came on the next possession and the Sooners showed they can work the ball and be a patient offensive team.

Grace added 13 points for Oklahoma, while his backcourt mate, Mookie Blaylock, had 11.

Elliott led Arizona with 31 points, while Anthony Cook had 16.

Arizona was taken out of its game by the Sooners as the Wildcats committed 15 turnovers, 9 in the first half, after averaging just 12 per game this season.

Arizona was also far its usual three-point shooting team as it made just 6 of 23 compared with a season percentage of 49.

Arizona’s Steve Kerr, who made 60% of his three-point attempts during the season, was just 2-for-13 from the field.

This will be the third championship game played between two members of the same conference.

Indiana and Michigan of the Big Ten met in 1976 and Villanova and Georgetown of the Big East were both in the 1985 championship game.

The victory was the 200th at Oklahoma for Coach Billy Tubbs, tying him with Bruce Drake as the winningest coach in Sooner history.

Arizona took a 9-2 lead as Cook scored five points and Elliott four in the opening 4:15, but the Sooners put on their vaunted press and steals by Blaylock and Grace brought Oklahoma within 9-8.

Oklahoma took the lead for good at 14-13 with 11:25 left in the half on a bank shot by King.

The teams traded points and after the Wildcats pulled within 20-19, the rest of the half was all Oklahoma.

The Sooners went on an 11-0 run with Grant scoring four of the points, including the driving jumper that ended the run with 5:25 left in the half.

Oklahoma took its first 14-point lead at 36-22 with 2:33 left on a banker by Andre Wiley.

Arizona’s tough first half--in which it shot 39% from the field and committed the nine turnovers--came to an appropriate end when Elliott missed a dunk on an alley-oop pass from Craig McMillan. He was fouled on the play, however, and made both free throws for the halftime margin of 39-27.