OU basketball accepts invite to College Basketball Crown, will play Colorado
· Yahoo Sports
NORMAN — Oklahoma men's basketball will extend its season in Las Vegas.
The Sooners accepted an invitation to the eight-team College Basketball Crown, set for April 1-5, with first-round games at MGM Grand Garden Arena and semifinals and the championship at T-Mobile Arena.
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OU (19-15, 7-11 SEC) will face former Big 12 rival Colorado (17-15, 7-11 Big 12) at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 1. If the Sooners win, they will play the winner of Baylor-Minnesota in the semifinals Saturday, April 4, with the championship slated for Sunday, April 5.
Coach Porter Moser acknowledged the disappointment of missing the NCAA Tournament but said the team was eager to continue competing. Moser, who has now failed to make the tournament in four of his five seasons following his hiring in 2021, will be retained for the 2026 season.
"Our guys were devastated Sunday night. We spent time talking about whether to continue our season in another tournament and we decided as a group we wanted to do that," Moser said. "We're not ready for this ride to end."
OU enters the tournament on a strong note, winning six of its last eight regular-season games and gong 2-1 in the SEC Tournament, including a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Arkansas, 82-79.
The Sooners' lineup is anchored by four first-year players averaging double figures: guard Nijel Pack (16.5 points), guard Xzayvier Brown (15.3) and forwards Tae Davis (12.5) and Derrion Reid (11.8). Center Mohamed Wague rounds out a group that has started all 34 games this season — making OU one of just four teams nationally and the only Power Five program, to use the same starting five every game.
Pack leads the SEC shooting 45.2% from 3 and ranks fifth nationally in treys per game, while also sitting 19th all-time with 426 career 3-pointers.
The Sooners own a 88-49 all-time record against Colorado, last meeting in the 2010-11 season.
All games will be televised by Fox and FS1.
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball extends season in College Basketball Crown vs Colorado