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RALEIGH, N,C. (AP) — A third straight national title for UConn may be improbable, but it's still possible.
Alex Karaban came through with a critical 3-pointer and a floater in the lane during a late run that helped the Huskies hold off Oklahoma 67-59 on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Somebody's going to have to put us down in this tournament for us to go away,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said of his team, which had a rocky regular season and even fell out of the AP Top 25.
Karaban had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (24-10), the No. 8 in seed in the West Region. They extended their March Madness winning streak to 13 games, tied with Duke from 1991-93 for the second-longest without missing a tournament.
Karaban's 3 on the catch from the right wing at the 3:40 mark gave UConn a four-point lead, and he followed with the floater at the 2:18 mark that pushed UConn ahead 64-58.
Solo Ball scored 14 points to help the Huskies advance to face top region seed Florida, a popular pick both to end UConn's run and win the national title.
“Once we get out of the first round, we've been pretty good,” Hurley said.
Freshman Jeremiah Fears had 20 points to lead the ninth-seeded Sooners (20-14), who shot 32.1% and made 3 of 17 3-pointers.
“I couldn't have asked for any better effort from our guys, especially defensively," Sooners coach Porter Moser said.
Takeaways
Oklahoma: The Sooners were part of the Southeastern Conference's record haul of 14 NCAA bids, though they were one of six SEC teams with a losing league record to get in. They went 7-14 after December.
UConn: The Huskies stand alongside Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) as the only teams to win back-to-back titles since UCLA's run of seven straight from 1967-73. While they haven't looked like a national title contender since they lost three straight games in Maui in November, they're still alive for a three-peat after a tough offensive night that included freshman Liam McNeeley missing 11 of 13 shots.
Finishing strong
Karaban, a starter in both of UConn's title runs, came through in the final minutes with the Huskies leading just 57-56. The 3-pointer was the big one, with Karaban firing quickly.
“I passed one up in the corner and I should have shot that one too, and I wasn't going to make that mistake again,” Karaban said.
Key moment
Oklahoma got a layup from Jalon Moore (13 points) to tie the game at 54-all at the six-minute mark, but the Sooners managed just one basket the rest of the game.
Moser said the Sooners had multiple possessions with guards driving into the paint to try shots “in the trees” against UConn's front line during those critical moments.
Oklahoma also made just 12 of 27 layups (44.4%).
“I thought our effort possession after possession was outstanding,” he said. “That’s not easy to guard as much movement as they have. I thought we guarded it very well. We just had some tough possessions down the stretch, back-to-back trying to take on their big men in there.”
Up next
The Huskies face the Gators on Sunday.
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