Oklahoma Gets Past No. 1 Arizona, 82-80

In the topsy-turvy world of college basketball this season, another team was toppled after only a week at No. 1.

Stacey King scored 24 points and Oklahoma overcame a seven-point second-half deficit Sunday to beat top-ranked Arizona, 82-80.

Because Oklahoma also defeated No. 3 Missouri this week, No. 2 Georgetown lost to Pittsburgh and No. 4 Louisville lost to Florida State and UCLA, the Sooners probably will retake the top spot today in this week’s Associated Press poll.

“We volunteered last week,” Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs said. “Any time you need us for No. 1, we’ll do it. Someone’s got to do it.”

Arizona became the third straight top-ranked team to lose in its first week as No. 1. Oklahoma and Illinois did it previously.

So are the Sooners the country’s best team?

“When you really got down to it, and I had to be fair, I’d probably put us in there,” Tubbs said.

In beating Arizona, Oklahoma won its 27th consecutive home game. Sean Elliott scored 26 points for Arizona (18-3), which had its 10-game winning streak snapped.

King scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half and the Sooners made five free throws in the closing seconds. King scored seven of his team’s first nine points, then didn’t score again until 3:12 into the second half as Arizona’s 1-3-1 defense caused problems. When he finally did score again, it ended an 11-0 run that had given the Wildcats a 44-37 lead.

“The game was played at the tempo we wanted,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “In the first half we did a really good job on him (King), but great players, you can only control them awhile. That’s why they’re great players.”

Once the Sooners figured a way to get the ball inside, King did the rest. He scored six straight and 12 of Oklahoma’s next 21 as the Sooners tied the score at 58 with 9:12 remaining.

“They switched defenses on us, and we kind of spread the court out and made them respect the outside shots,” King said. “That opened the inside for me, and I got the ball and went to work.”

A 15-3 run by Oklahoma made the score 73-64 with 5:11 remaining. Skeeter Henry scored seven of his 15 points during that spurt.

Elliott, who went nearly 8 minutes in the second half without scoring, pulled the Wildcats to 77-73 with a three-point shot with 1:44 left. The teams traded baskets, then Mookie Blaylock made a free throw with 33 seconds remaining to put the Sooners ahead, 78-75.

Blaylock’s second free throw bounced away, but William Davis got the offensive rebound and was fouled. He made both shots to make the score 80-75.

“The biggest play was our failure to rebound the missed free throw,” Olson said. “That would have given us a chance to tie it with a three-pointer.”

Elliott made a jumper with 20 seconds left, but Blaylock came back 6 seconds later to make two free throws. Matt Othick made a three-pointer with 7 seconds left.

NOW WHO’S NO. 1?

Who has been voted No. 1 in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll this season and for how many weeks:

School Weeks Duke University 8 University of Illinois 1 University of Oklahoma 1 University of Arizona 1