Coleman’s 3 With 0.4 Seconds Left Lifts Texas Over Oklahoma

Texas’ Matt Coleman III looked over at teammate Royce Hamm Jr. in the final seconds of Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma.

“Royce, I’m about to win this,” Coleman said.

Then he did.

Coleman banked in a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to lift the Longhorns to a 52-51 win over the Sooners.

A year ago against the Sooners on the road, Coleman had a chance to be the hero, before Jamal Bieniemy extended and blocked Coleman’s potential winner at the buzzer to preserve Oklahoma’s win.

This time, Coleman wasn’t about to be stopped, even if he needed some help to get there.

It took Kristian Doolittle’s two missed free throws with six seconds remaining to keep Texas’ hopes for a regulation win alive.

After the second of those, Coleman looked at Hamm and made his fateful prediction.

Brock Cunningham grabbed the rebound, he quickly handed the ball to Coleman, who never hesitated. He ran in between Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves and Bieniemy and elevated, letting fly a high, arcing shot that went off the backboard and through with 0.4 seconds remaining to extend the Longhorns’ win streak to five.

“It’s just a combination of a little passion, a little luck and a little bit of March,” Coleman said. “Like they say on the commercials, ‘the NBA is where amazing happens.’ March is where amazing happens for college.”

The previous four games in Texas’ winning streak had been comfortable at the end for Texas, with each coming by double figures. But there was never much comfort on either side Tuesday, with neither team leading by more than six at any point.

Coleman led the Longhorns (18-12, 9-8 Big 12) with 21 points, making 9 of 15 from the field.

It was a struggle for both teams offensively throughout as they combined to shoot less than 31%.

Texas shot 33.3% and Oklahoma just 28%, including 2 of 20 from 3-point range — 0 for 8 in the second half.

“Obviously nothing I can say or do in the locker room to change what our guys feel any better,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “It was tough all night long. Our guys weren’t making shots. They fought back and got over the hump, but we still didn’t get the result we wanted.”

Despite his shooting struggles throughout the night, it looked like Brady Manek was going to be the hero for Oklahoma.

His block of Courtney Ramey’s driving layup attempt and rebound sent him to the free-throw line for a pair that put the Sooners up by three with 26 seconds remaining.