The 1988–89 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the University of Oklahoma in competitive college basketball during the 1988–89 NCAA Division I season. The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team played its home games in the

Lloyd Noble Center The Lloyd Noble Center is a 10,967-seat multi-purpose arena located in Norman, Oklahoma, some south of downtown Oklahoma City. It opened in 1975 and is home to the University of Oklahoma men's and women's basketball teams. History Before the co ...

and was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) former

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

at that time. The team posted a 30–6 overall record and a 12–2 conference record to earn the Conference title under head coach Billy Tubbs. This was the fourth Big Eight Conference regular season Championship for Tubbs and his second in a row. The team was led by two future

1989 NBA draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn K ...

first round selections

Stacey King Ronald Stacey King (born January 29, 1967) is an American sports announcer and retired National Basketball Association (NBA) center who won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993. King is currently the lead col ...

and Mookie Blaylock who were both selected as

1989 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans The Consensus 1989 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of four major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Associated Press, t ...

. The team won two of its three games at the 1988 Maui Invitational Tournament where it faced three ranked opponents: #16 , #4 UNLV and #3 Michigan who defeated them and eventually won the

1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 1989, and ended with the championsh ...

. The team then won 11 games in a row before losing to unranked

Pitt Pitt most commonly refers to: *The University of Pittsburgh, commonly known as Pitt, a university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States **Pitt Panthers, the athletic teams of the University of Pittsburgh * Pitt (surname), a surname o ...

. The team then won five in a row including victories over #16 Kansas and then #13 UNLV before losing to unranked . The Sooners, who were ranked in the top 10 all season and the top 5 for the entire 1989 part of its schedule, then won six more in a row including back to back wins against #3 Missouri and #1 Arizona. #7 Missouri ended the streak and gave Oklahoma its final regular season loss. Oklahoma won its final two regular season games and first two Big Eight tournament games before losing its rubber match against #10 Missouri in the championship game. The team earned a second consecutive #1 seed for the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

where it advanced to the sweet sixteen before losing to Virginia. Mookie Blaylock established the current Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball single-season minutes played (1359) and career steals (281) records. His career steals per game record (3.8) stood as a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball record for 13 seasons. He also tied his own NCAA single-game steals record (13).

set the current Sooners single-season free throws made (211) record. King also set the Big Eight career

blocked shot In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score. The defender is not allowed to make contact with the offensive player's hand (unless the de ...

s record (228). Tyrone Jones became the first Sooner to make 6 consecutive

three point shot A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two po ...

s (a record since tied by 4 other Sooners). The team holds the Sooner record with 20 100-point games.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9, Regular season , - !colspan=9, Big Eight Conference tournament , - !colspan=9, NCAA tournament

NCAA basketball tournament

The following is a summary of the team's performance in the

: *Southeast ** Oklahoma (1) 72,

East Tennessee State East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a Public university, public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an instit ...

(16) 71 **Oklahoma 124, Louisiana Tech (9) 81 ** Virginia (5) 86, Oklahoma 80 (Sweet 16)

Honors

* All-American: Mookie Blaylock and

(2nd selection) * Big Eight POY: King

Team players drafted into the NBA

The following players were drafted in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988-89 Oklahoma Sooners Men's Basketball Team Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball seasons