The stars came out to Lloyd Noble Center Tuesday night.
Toby Keith and Kevin Durant seated themselves courtside to get an unobstructed view of No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 21 Davidson. The attraction of seeing OU All-American forward Blake Griffin and Davidson All-American guard Stephen Curry was must-see viewing.
They didn’t leave anyone disappointed, but it was the Sooners who were humming Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” late Tuesday night.
Griffin scored 25 points and pulled down 21 rebounds to lead the Sooners to an 82-78 victory in the final of the NIT Season Tip-Off Norman Regional.
There was a frenzied atmosphere Tuesday night. It was one of those rare occurrences when a fired-up Sooner crowd gathers at the arena prior to Big 12 Conference play.
Players could feel the difference.
“(OU coach Jeff Capel) told us before the game, ‘This is why you guys play college basketball,’” Griffin said. “You come to the University of Oklahoma to play in games like this.”
Curry did everything possible to make it a disapointing night for the Sooners. The junior guard showed why he might be the best backcourt player in college basketball. He scored a game-high 44 points and ran OU ragged on the defensive end.
The most impressive part was he put up those totals despite missing the final 6 minutes of the first half after picking up his third foul.
Fouls were a big part of Tuesday’s contest, which was the first between two ranked teams this season. The Sooners and Wildcats combined for 44 fouls that were split down the middle.
Curry managed to pick up 14 of his points at the free-throw line. He was 12-for-29 from the field.
Griffin was having a quiet night by his standards until midway through the second half. He only had four points in the first half, then he erupted for 10 in a little over 2 minutes. The final four came on back-to-back dunks that gave the Sooners a 58-40 lead.
It looked like the game was over less than a minute later when Cade Davis buried a 3-pointer from the corner to put OU up 61-40.
Davidson (2-1) just wouldn’t go away. For a while, it looked like the Sooners and Wildcats might play well into this morning.
“With a player like Curry, it’s like the game’s never over until there’s no time left on the clock,” OU forward Taylor Griffin said.
Curry led Davidson back burying 3-pointer after 3-pointer. With a minute left it was a one-possession game. OU’s Cade Davis went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line to help OU get the win and allow the packed arena to exhale.
The Sooners locked up a berth in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off. They face an opponent yet to be determined at New York’s Madison Square Garden next Wednesday. The finals are next Friday.
OU gets a tune-up before it takes off. It hosts Gardner-Webb at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center.
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