No. 1 Houston survived a scare on the road Saturday after Jamal Shead saved the day on a last-second shot to lift the Cougars past Oklahoma 87-85. With the game tied at 85-all and the clock ticking under 10 seconds, Shead missed on his first attempt at a potential game-winner down the lane but gathered his own miss before draining a fadeaway in the final second. OU ran one final play but could not get a shot off.
Shead finished with 14 points and made just two shots in the second half as he battled through injury. He led the Cougars with six assists, grabbed four rebounds and was a perfect 6 for 6 from the free-throw line.
Game Winner 🐐@Thejshead x #ForTheCity pic.twitter.com/BEi39D6FcM
— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@UHCougarMBK) March 3, 2024
Houston led for the majority of the game but the Sooners made things interesting down the stretch. With 15.1 seconds remaining, Sooners guard Milos Uzan helped OU retain possession by bouncing the ball off of Houston's Emanuel Sharp. OU scored on a layup two seconds later to tie things up before Shead's heroics.
The win for Houston gave coach Kelvin Sampson a homecoming win in Norman where he previously led the Sooners program from 1994-2006. Sampson and his Cougars advanced to 13-3 in Big 12 play with the win to remain alone atop the league standings.