NORMAN — For the first time since 2021, the Oklahoma men’s basketball team is going dancing. Porter Moser’s 20-13 Sooners were named Sunday as the No. 9 seed in NCAA Tournament West Region and will play No. 8 seed and two-time defending national Champion UConn (23-10) on Friday at 8:25 p.m. CT in Raleigh, N.C. The game will be televised on TNT.

If OU beats the Huskies, who finished in third place in the Big East Conference with a 14-6 record, it will play Sunday against the winner of Friday’s contest between No. 1 seed Florida (30-4) and No. 16 seed Norfolk State (24-10). Games in Raleigh will be played at Lenovo Center.

The Sooners, one of 14 SEC teams to make the field, a record for an individual conference, are making their 34 NCAA Tournament appearance and own a 42-33 record. This is OU’s 30th appearance going back to 1983, tied for the 10th most nationally over the last 42 tournaments.

OU’s NCAA Tournament appearance is its first under Moser, who owns a 6-2 NCAA Tournament record. That’s good for the fourth-best winning percentage (.750) among all 2024-25 Division I head coaches and the third-best winning percentage among coaches whose teams are in this year’s field (trails just Dan Hurley [14-4; .778] of UConn and Hubert Davis [7-2; .778] of North Carolina). Moser directed Loyola Chicago to the Final Four in 2018 and to the Sweet 16 in 2021. Oklahoma assistant coach Clayton Custer was Loyola’s starting point guard on the 2018 Final Four squad.

Leading the Sooners into Friday’s game will be senior forward Jalon Moore and freshman guard Jeremiah Fears, who will be making their NCAA Tournament debuts. Moore and Fears lead the team with 29 double-digit scoring appearances apiece. Moore has scored at least 20 points 12 times and Fears 11 (five times in the last eight games).

Fears has been especially hot. Over the last eight games, the four-time SEC Freshman of the Week is averaging 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists, and has turned in games of 27, 28, 29 and 31 points. Fears is one of just three Power Four conference players to average at least 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game on the season. The others are Duke’s Cooper Flagg and West Virginia’s Javon Small.

Friday’s game will mark OU’s fifth all-time against UConn, with the Sooners holding a 3-1 series record. The teams met four straight years, with the Sooners winning in 2001-02 (69-67 in Hartford), 2002-03 (73-63 in Norman) and 2004-05 (77-65 in Norman). The Huskies’ win came in 200304 (86-59 in Storrs).

The Sooners are 6-1 in neutral-site games this season, with their only loss coming at the buzzer to Kentucky (85-84) in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday. OU beat Providence (7977), No. 24 Arizona (8277) and Louisville (69-64) on consecutive days in November to win the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, trounced Oklahoma State (80-65) in Oklahoma City on Dec. 14, downed No. 24 Michigan (87-86) in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 18 and handled Georgia on Wednesday in the SEC Tournament first round (8175).

Oklahoma has won its opening NCAA Tournament game in each of its last two appearances, in four of its last five and in 11 of its last 16.

OU is tied with Florida for third among the SEC’s 16 programs with five Final Four appearances (Kentucky has 17 and Arkansas six). The Sooners advanced to the Final Four in 1939, 1947, 1988, 2002 and 2016, and played in the national title game in 1947 (lost 58-47 to Holy Cross in New York City) and 1988 (lost 83-79 to Kansas in Kansas City, Mo.). They have advanced to the Sweet 16 on 11 occasions and to the Elite Eight nine times.

OU Basketball Women

For the 25th time in program history, Oklahoma is headed to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The Sooners earned the No. 3 seed in the Spokane 4 Region and will host first- and second- round games at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

The No. 3 seed is Oklahoma’s highest since reaching the Final Four in 2010. The 2025 championship marks the seventh time the Sooners will host NCAA Tournament games and the first since head coach Jennie Baranczyk’s debut season in 2021-22.

Oklahoma will open against No. 14 seed Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s first-round battle, which OU won 73-70. The winner will advance to face either No. 6 seed Iowa or No. 11 seed Murray State in Monday’s second round.

The Sooners (25-7, 11-5 SEC) enter the tournament ranked No. 11 in the AP poll and aim to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013. Under Baranczyk, Oklahoma has secured a No. 5 seed or better in each of her four seasons — only the second time in program history (2006-10) the Sooners have achieved that feat in four consecutive years.

A consistent presence in the NCAA postseason, Oklahoma has now made 25 tournament appearances, including 23 since 2000. The Sooners have reached three Final Fours (2002, 2009, 2010) and 10 Sweet 16s, most recently in 2013. Under Baranczyk, OU has advanced to the second round in each of the past three seasons.

Game times and TV designations will be announced later by the NCAA and ESPN.

The 2025 championship will be the fourth to feature a 68-team field. First Four games will take place on Wednesday, March 19, and Thursday, March 20, at four of the top-16 host sites. First- and second-round games will be held from Friday, March 21, through Monday, March 24, on the campuses of the top-16 seeds.

The championship will continue with a two-site regional format in 2025. Eight teams will compete at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, and eight at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington. Regional play runs from March 28-31, with each site hosting two regional semifinal games on March 28 and two more on March 29. Regional championship games will follow on March 30 and March 31.

The 2025 Women’s Final Four is set for April 4 and 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Tickets for games at Lloyd Noble Center are available for purchase through the Oklahoma Ticket Office.