No. 1 Kansas beats No. 2 Oklahoma in triple overtime at Allen Fieldhouse
Kansas beat Oklahoma 109-106 in triple overtime Monday night inside Allen Fieldhouse. OU's Buddy Hield finished with a career-high 46 points.
By
Gary Parrish
•
4 min read
It's difficult, by definition, for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown to exceed expectations.
But Oklahoma-Kansas somehow did it Monday night.
I mean it really, really did it.
Final: No. 1 Kansas 109, No. 2 Oklahoma 106.
And it took three -- three! -- overtimes to settle things.
"Toughest game I've ever played in," said Kansas senior Perry Ellis, who finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds and still wasn't even close to being the star of the game.
That's because Buddy Hield was.
The Oklahoma senior took 23 shots, made 13 and finished with a career-high 46 points while making a strong case that he should be the leading candidate for National Player of the Year. This was Hield's fifth 30-point game this season, and his fourth in OU's past seven contests. And yet it might forever be bittersweet in his mind, and for three reasons.
- Hield turned the ball over with 8.6 seconds left in the third OT.
- Hield missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that, if good, would've forced a fourth OT.
- And, of course, Oklahoma lost.
Still, what a game -- for Hield, for Ellis and for college basketball in general, and the timing could not have been better considering it was only the fifth No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown ever in January, and it was in prime time on the Monday following the final weekend of the NFL's regular season. In other words, this game was the center of the sports world.
And, again, it did not disappoint.
You like comebacks?
There were plenty. And what'll be forgotten by most, because of the three overtime periods, is that both teams actually held double-digit leads in regulation. Kansas led 32-21 in the first half. Then Oklahoma led 54-44 in the second half.
Still, the game was somehow tied at the end of regulation. And tied at the end of one overtime. And tied again at the end of a second overtime, at which point it became only the second No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in college basketball history to ever reach three OTs.
"That's as good of a regular-season game as I've been a part of," Kansas coach Bill Self said in the locker room. Then he smiled and told his players to go enjoy the rest of night -- this historic night of college basketball that'll be remembered for a long, long time.
| No. 1 vs. No. 2 all-time meetings | |||
| Date | Winner | Loser | Location |
| Jan. 4, 2016 | No. 1 Kansas 109 | No. 2 Oklahoma 107 (3OT) | at Lawrence, Kan. |
| Nov. 12, 2013 | No. 2 Michigan State 78 | No. 1 Kentucky 74 | at Chicago |
| Feb. 24, 2008 | No. 2 Tennessee 66 | No. 1 Memphis 62 | at Memphis, Tenn. |
| Feb. 25, 2007 | No. 2 Ohio State 49 | No. 1 Wisconsin 48 | at Columbus, Ohio |
| Dec. 10, 2005 | No. 1 Duke 97 | No. 2 Texas 66 | at East Rutherford, N.J. |
| April 4, 2005 | No. 2 North Carolina 75 | No. 1 Illinois 70 | NCAA championship at St. Louis |
| March 27, 1999 | No. 1 Duke 68 | No. 2 Michigan State 62 | Final Four, at St. Petersburg, Fla. |
| Feb. 5, 1998 | No. 2 North Carolina 97 | No. 1 Duke 73 | at Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| March 30, 1996 | No. 2 Kentucky 81 | No. 1 UMass 74 | Final Four at East Rutherford, N.J. |
| Feb. 3, 1994 | No. 2 North Carolina 89 | No. 1 Duke 78 | at Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| Feb. 10, 1991 | No. 1 UNLV 112 | No. 2 Arkansas 105 | at Fayetteville, Ark. |
| March 10, 1990 | No. 1 Oklahoma 95 | No. 2 Kansas 77 | Big Eight semifinals at Kansas City, Mo. |
| Feb. 13, 1990 | No. 2 Missouri 77 | No. 1 Kansas 71 | at Lawrence, Kan. |
| March 29, 1986 | No. 1 Duke 71 | No. 2 Kansas 67 | Final Four at Dallas |
| Feb. 4, 1986 | No. 1 North Carolina 78 | No. 2 Georgia Tech 77 (OT) | at Atlanta |
| March 9, 1985 | No. 1 Georgetown 92 | No. 2 St. John’s 80 | Big East finals at New York |
| Feb. 27, 1985 | No. 2 Georgetown 85 | No. 1 St. John’s 69 | at New York |
| Dec. 15, 1984 | No. 1 Georgetown 77 | No. 2 DePaul 57 | at Landover, Md. |
| April 2, 1983 | No. 1 Houston 94 | No. 2 Louisville 81 | Final Four at Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Jan. 9, 1982 | No. 1 North Carolina 65 | No. 2 Virginia 60 | at Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| Dec. 26, 1981 | No. 1 North Carolina 82 | No. 2 Kentucky 69 | at East Rutherford, N.J. |
| March 22, 1976 | No. 1 Indiana 65 | No. 2 Marquette 56 | Elite Eight at Baton Rouge, La. |
| Nov. 29, 1975 | No. 1 Indiana 84 | No. 2 UCLA 64 | at St. Louis, Mo. |
| March 31, 1975 | No. 1 UCLA 92 | No. 2 Kentucky 85 | NCAA championship at San Diego |
| March 25, 1974 | No. 1 N.C. State 80 | No. 2 UCLA 77 (2OT) | Final Four at Greensboro, N.C. |
| Jan. 26, 1974 | No. 2 UCLA 94 | No. 1 Notre Dame 75 | at Los Angeles |
| Jan. 19, 1974 | No. 2 Notre Dame 71 | No. 1 UCLA 70 | at South Bend, Ind. |
| Dec. 15, 1973 | No. 1 UCLA 84 | No. 2 N.C. State 66 | at St. Louis, Mo. |
| March 22, 1968 | No. 2 UCLA 101 | No. 1 Houston 69 | Final Four at Los Angeles |
| Jan. 20, 1968 | No. 2 Houston 71 | No. 1 UCLA 69 | at Houston |
| March 18, 1966 | No. 1 Kentucky 83 | No. 2 Duke 79 | Final Four at College Park, Md. |
| March 20, 1965 | No. 2 UCLA 91 | No. 1 Michigan 80 | NCAA championship at Portland, Ore. |
| Dec. 14, 1964 | No. 2 Michigan 87 | No. 1 Wichita State 85 | at Detroit |
| March 24, 1962 | No. 2 Cincinnati 71 | No. 1 Ohio State 59 | NCAA championship at Louisville, Ky. |
| March 25, 1961 | No. 2 Cincinnati 70 | No. 1 Ohio State 65 (OT) | NCAA championship at Kansas City, Mo. |
| March 18, 1960 | No. 2 California 77 | No. 1 Cincinnati 69 | NCAA Final Four at San Francisco |
| March 23, 1957 | No. 1 North Carolina 54 | No. 2 Kansas 53 | NCAA championship at Kansas City, Mo. |
| Dec. 21, 1954 | No. 1 Kentucky 70 | No. 2 Utah 65 | at Lexington, Ky. |
| Dec. 17, 1951 | No. 1 Kentucky 81 | No. 2 St. John’s 40 | at Lexington, Ky. |
| March 26, 1949 | No. 1 Kentucky 46 | No. 2 Oklahoma A&M 36 | NCAA championship at Seattle |
