The 1988–89 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

in competitive

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

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 and women's gymnastics teams ...

and was a member of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

'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 American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

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 A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Billy Tubbs Billy Duane Tubbs (March 5, 1935 – November 1, 2020) was an American men's college basketball Coach (sport), coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native was the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University (1976–1980, 2003–2006), the University of O ...

. 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 1989–90 NBA season, 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 play ...

first round selections

Stacey King Ronald Stacey King (born January 29, 1967) is an American sports announcer and former National Basketball Association (NBA) center who won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993 while playing next to Michael J ...

and

Mookie Blaylock Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock (born March 20, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. He spent 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Golden State Warriors. C ...

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, ...

. The team won two of its three games at the 1988

Maui Invitational Tournament The Maui Invitational is an annual early-season college basketball tournament that takes place Thanksgiving week, normally in Lahaina, Hawaii, at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. It is hosted by Chaminade University of Honolulu, ...

where it faced three ranked opponents: #16 , #4

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

and #3

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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 champio ...

. The team then won 11 games in a row before losing to unranked Pitt. The team then won five in a row including victories over #16

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

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 Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and #1

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. #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 March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

where it advanced to the sweet sixteen before losing to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

established the current

Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represents the University of Oklahoma in intercollegiate men's basketball. The program competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...

single-season minutes played (1359) and career steals (281) records. His career steals per game record (3.8) stood as a

Division I

record for 13 seasons. He also tied his own NCAA single-game steals record (13).

set the current Sooners single-season

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

s 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 def ...

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 triple) is a Field goal (basketball), 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, ...

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 (16) 71 **Oklahoma 124,

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

(9) 81 **

(5) 86, Oklahoma 80 (Sweet 16)

Honors

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

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