CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Surprisingly, the red-hot Jeremiah Fears wasn’t the first option on a play design with the game on the line for Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
But the 6-foot-4 freshman made sure he was the best option.
Fears knocked down a off-balance 30-foot jumper and drew a foul to complete an unlikely four-point play with 11.5 seconds left to lift the No. 14 Sooners to an 87-86 victory over 24th-ranked Michigan.
Fears finished with 30 points as the Sooners escaped Charlotte with a win to remain unbeaten, leaving Wolverines fans holding their jaws in disbelief.
“It was a great experience and I’m excited,” Fears said.
Trailing 86-83 with 30 seconds left, the Sooners brought the ball up the floor and were trying to run a play for Brycen Goodine — who had just two points in the game — but he got double-teamed in the corner.
Goodine passed out of the trap to teammate Sam Godwin. That's when Fears, as part of the play design, came racing around the top of the key, took a shovel pass from Godwin, took one dribble and knocked down a difficult shot for a right-hander as he was fading to his left.
A big-time shot for a big-time player who came into the game averaging 16.7 points.
As he lay on his back on the hardwood after the foul call, Fears pumped both clenched fists near his chest while teammates raced over to help him up and celebrate. Fears, who was 8 of 12 from the field and 11 of 13 from the foul line, then calmly sank the free throw.
“Just to be clear, it was a bullet play and we had Jeremiah coming back around the horn for the second (look),” Sooners coach Porter Moser said. “Brycen did a good job because we run that a lot in practice. They kind of threw two guys at him and then Jeremiah came back around.”
Michigan (8-3) missed a 3-point attempt on its final possession and the Sooners, who trailed by 11 in the second half, escaped with the win despite being down by three and not having the ball with 30 seconds left.
“This team can take a punch and punch back,” Moser said. “That’s the sign of a resilient team. There are so many good teams in college basketball that you better be able to take a punch.”
Fouling a 3-point shooter is one of basketball's biggest mistakes, and it's even worse when the player makes the shot.
That is something Michigan coach Dusty May will have to deal with on the flight back to Ann Arbor.
May said he talked to his players in the huddle before the play about “switching 1 through 5” and taking away the 3-pointer in the huddle before the go-ahead shot.
The Wolverines chose not to foul beforehand to avoid the 3-point shot even though the Sooners were hot from behind the arc all night, making 12 of 25 attempts.
“We defended the first action really well,” May said of the play. “And then in basketball, stuff like that happens. I haven't seen exactly where he shot it from. But he was sprinting toward the sideline and he created the contact and knocked it down. Obviously we are not looking to foul a 3-point shooter, but stuff happens.”
.____
Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball