Thank you for tuning in, please stay with us on VAVEL USA for all the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament action.
End of the 2nd Half: No. 3 seed Oklahoma holds off a pesky No. 14 seed Albany squad, 69-60, in what was a hard fought game throughout.
2nd Half, 30.0: Ryan Spangler is fouled and sinks both free throws, 69-60 OU
2nd Half, 31.2: Peter Hooley is tripped up and fouled, nails one out of two free throws, 67-60 OU
2nd Half, 38.6: Woodard is fouled and sinks both free throws and that just might be it, 67-59 OU
2nd Half, 2:02: Have yourself a game Evan Singletary! Another three from the same left corner, 65-59 OU
2nd Half, 2:16: TaShawn Thomas with the put back, 65-56 OU
2nd Half, 2:47: Sam Rowley is fouled and sinks both ends of the one and one, 63-56 OU
2nd Half, 3:24: And just when Albany was getting close, Isaiah Cousins answers with a three of his own, 63-54 OU
2nd Half, 3:53: Evan Singletary with another big shot, hits the trey, 60-54 OU
2nd Half, 4:21: Jordan Woodard is fouled on the shot and hits one out of two free throws, 60-51 OU
2nd Half, 4:33: Evan Singletary hits the long two and Albany is still keeping pace, 59-51 OU
2nd Half, 5:04: Latin fouled on the layup. Hits one out of two free throws, 59-49 OU
2nd Half, 5:56: Sam Rowley fouled on the shot. Sinks both free throws, 58-49 OU
2nd Half, 6:20: Buddy Hield gets space and nails the triple, 58-47 OU
2nd Half, 7:48: Sam Rowley finishes inside, 55-47 OU
2nd Half, 8:02: Woodard is fouled. Makes one free throw out of two, 55-45 OU
2nd Half, 8:47: Wheeler Baker FOR THREEEEEEE, 54-45 OU
2nd Half, 9:08: Thomas bullies his way in the post and gets another bucket, 54-42 OU
2nd Half, 10:28: Baker with the flip and in, 52-42 OU
2nd Half, 11:24: Frank Booker hits the open three, BOOK IT, 52-40 OU
2nd Half, 12:33: Booker cleans things up and lays it in, 49-40 OU
2nd Half, 13:45: Thomas sinks both free throws, 47-40 OU
2nd Half, 14:34: Ray Sanders with another THREEE, 45-40 OU
2nd Half, 16:08: Hield answers right back with his own three, 45-37 OU
2nd Half, 16:39: Sanders hits the THREE, 42-37 OU
2nd Half, 17:00: TaShawn Thomas with the layup AAAND ONE, 42-34 OU
2nd Half, 17:25: Sam Rowley with the put back, 39-34 OU
2nd Half, 18:51: Spangler with the deuce, 39-32 OU
2nd Half, 19:12: Rowley with another layup for Albany, 37-32 OU
2nd Half, 19:49: Hooley picks up right where he left off, 37-30 OU
Start of the 2nd Half
End of the 1st Half: No. 3 seed Oklahoma leads the No. 14 seed Albany Great Danes 37-28.
1st Half, 1.0: Jordan Woodard rushes down the court and beats the clock on the layup, 37-28 OU
1st Half, 13.0: Ray Sanders gets the friendly roll on the three pointaaaa, 35-28 OU
1st Half, 1:56: Thomas keeps getting it done, another layup, 35-25 OU
1st Half, 3:10: TaShawn Thomas with the easy layup on the inside, 33-25 OU
1st Half, 3:34: Peters with the layup off the second chance, 31-25 OU
1st Half, 4:33: Hield with the offensive rebound and lay in, 31-23 OU
1st Half, 5:23: Bennet with another layup, 29-23 OU
1st Half, 6:06: Bennet with the layup now, 27-23 OU
1st Half, 6:12: Hooley with the layup, 25-23 OU
1st Half, 6:32: Singletary with the fast break layup, 25-21
1st Half, 7:57: Buddy Hield now hits a THREE, 25-19 Oklahoma
1st Half, 8:02: Mike Rowley with the layup, 22-19 Oklahoma
1st Half, 8:34: Isaiah Cousins though answers, 22-17 Oklahoma
1st Half, 8:53: Peter Hooley hits one FROM DOWN UNDER, 19-17 Oklahoma
1st Half, 9:45: Jordan Woodard with the open jumper, 19-14 Oklahoma
1st Half, 10:38: Hooley with the scoop up and in, 17-14 Oklahoma
1st Half, 11:47: TaShawn Thomas sinks one out of two free throws, 17-12 Oklahoma
1st Half, 12:06: Hooley with the layup off the inbound, 16-12 Oklahoma
1st Half, 12:31: Buddy Hield with the SLAM, 16-10 Oklahoma
1st Half, 12:47: Sam Rowley with the easy layup, 14-10 Oklahoma
1st Half, 13:02: Frank Booker comes right back with a three of his own, 14-8 Oklahoma
1st Half, 13:28: Peter Hooley with a THREE, 11-8 Oklahoma
1st Half, 13:50: Thomas with another layup on another offensive rebound, 11-5 Oklahoma
1st Half, 14:25: Singletary gets free for the layup, 9-5 Oklahoma
1st Half, 14:43: Thomas with layup on the offensive rebound, 9-3 Oklahoma
1st Half, 15:38: TaShawn Thomas with the JAM, 7-3 Oklahoma
1st Half, 16:36: Singletary makes one out of two free throws, 5-3 Oklahoma
1st Half, 16:58: Ryan Spangler with the layup AAAAND ONE, 5-2 Oklahoma
1st Half, 17:54: Sanders gets Albany on the board, tied 2-2
1st Half, 19:20: Ryan Spangler gets the scoring off with a layup, 2-0 Oklahoma
Start of the 1st Half
Sorry for the delay folks. Tip-off time for this matchup has been moved to 8:17 PM EST. Thank you for your patience and make sure to keep following as gametime is only about 20 minutes away.
This works right in Albany's favor as they like to take it slow. Albany needs to control that slow tempo and not get caught up with the running game of Oklahoma. Their guards can be dangerous from the outside and with great ball movement they can bring down the shot clock and keep the ball out of Oklahoma's hands.
The Great Danes need to deny Hield any good looks and force his teammates to make a play in the half court. A Sooners offense with a struggling Hield and forced to operate in the half court is a much more beat able one than a Oklahoma offense running in transition.
Another kryptonite for Oklahoma could be the same player that is their Superman. Buddy Hield, as much of a prolific scorer as he is, has a habit of having off nights, especially if forced to isolate and shoot from long range. 0/7, 2/11, 1/8, and 2/7 are a couple of stat lines of Hield's from shooting from three this season.
Kansas State showed twice this year on how to stop the Sooners. The Wildcats proved that if you can put the brakes on Oklahoma's transition game, you can win. The Sooners' offense goes from 1.1 points a possession during transition, to a mere average 0.84 points when having to operate in the half court. Albany will need to make Oklahoma conduct a half court offense and force individual players to make something happen late in the shot clock.
Albany, though, has no superstar player to watch. Guards Peter Hooley, Evan Singletary, and Ray Saunders all need to use a combined effort to shut down Hield and prevent him from being explosive tonight. If the Great Danes can keep Hield in check, they could have a chance to pull off the upset.
There is no surprise who the player to watch will be for the Sooners. Junior guard Buddy Hield averages 17.4 PPG and is the Sooners leading scorer. Hield was also recently named the Big 12 Player of the Year and one of the 12 Wooden Award finalist.
One thing to look for tonight is Oklahoma running up and down the court at a high-speed tempo. Senior transfer TaShawn Thomas said that ''I believe if we get the tempo up, that we'll be able to execute what we want to do." 22.4% of the Sooners offensive possessions come in transition and their average possession last 16.6 seconds, good for 28th-lowest in the league.
But Oklahoma believes that they will be ready. Coach Lon Kruger believes that the results from those two games can help them. "It shows us that anybody can beat anybody when it comes to March," Spangler said to the media last night. "And we'll be thinking about those two losses tonight, see what went wrong, and try not to let it happen to us tomorrow.''
Peter Hooley, the Aussie who hit the biggest shot of his life to get Albany here, said "we just try to let these guys know on our team that anything can happen. It's March.'' And he couldn't be more right. The Big 12 conference was 0-3 yesterday in day one of the second round, with both No. 3 seeds, Baylor and Iowa State, being ousted by the No. 14 seeds. So if Albany ever needed a confidence booster, there it is.
Albany, on the other hand, is itching to get another chance to be the Cinderella. Coming off their emotional American East conference championship win against Stony Brook, Great Danes coach Will Brown said "we're here to win a game. We're here to win more than one game." Albany defeated Mount St. Mary's in the First Four round last year and only lost to No. 1 seed Florida by 12, 67-55. In 2013, Albany entered the tournament as a 15 seed and battled hard against a very talented Duke team, eventually losing 71-63. Tonight, the Great Danes look to pull off the upset they have been so close to doing the past few years.
It has been a cruel road in the tournament for the Sooners as they haven't won a game here since 2009. Lead scorer Buddy Hield told the media that fact has "been in the back of our heads" and Ryan Spangler added that "we don't want that to happen to us again." It was a year ago in the 2014 NCAA Tournament that Oklahoma was chased out in the second round by 13 seed North Dakota State.
Good evening ladies and gentleman and welcome to VAVEL USA's exclusive live of the 2015 Men's NCAA Tournament second round matchup between the Great Danes of Albany (24-8) winners of the American East conference, and the Oklahoma Sooners out of the Big 12. This will be a No. 14 seed - No. 3 seed matchup and if day one of the second round proved anything it is that you cannot count out the underdog. My name is Karl Capen and I will be taking you through score by score until the final buzzer sounds.