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AP college basketball poll (Dec. 25): Oklahoma, Baylor drop out of top 10; Texas slides

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AP college basketball poll (Dec. 25): Oklahoma, Baylor drop out of top 10; Texas slides


Florida Atlantic’s run to the Final Four last season was viewed as a nice story, a small program making a surprise run before sliding back into anonymity.

The Owls are showing this season that that was no fluke.

Coming off a double-overtime win over No. 4 Arizona, FAU moved up seven places to No. 7 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday. It’s the Owls’ highest ranking as a program after being No. 10 in the preseason poll.

“We wanted to play it in the worst way for a lot of reasons,” FAU coach Dusty May said before the 96-95 win over Arizona on Saturday. “National television. Our guys wanted to be challenged. They love the challenge. And we felt our program was at a point where we needed these games to elevate even more than a Final Four run.”

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Purdue maintained its top ranking for the second straight week, receiving 46 first-place votes from a 60-person media panel after blowing out Jacksonville. No. 2 Kansas had five first-place votes and No. 3 Houston received nine. Arizona and UConn rounded out the top five.

Florida Atlantic made massive waves last season, earning the program’s first ranking in the AP Top 25 during the regular season before making a magical run in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls just missed a shot at the national championship game when San Diego State’s Lamont Butler beat them with a buzzer-beating jumper.

Florida Atlantic (10-2) returned nearly everyone from that team and has shown another deep run could be coming.

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The Owls suffered an unexpected slipup with an early home loss to Bryant and lost to then-No. 20 Illinois by seven at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 5. FAU won the ESPN Events Invitational by knocking off then-No. 12 Texas A&M in the semifinals and Virginia Tech in the title game.

The Owls showed plenty of grit in Las Vegas on Saturday, going toe to toe with Arizona in one of the best games of the season so far.

Johnell Davis scored 35 points and FAU dodged Caleb Love’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer to win its fifth game over a ranked opponent over the past two seasons. The Owls had been 1-19 against AP Top 25 teams before last season.

RISING AND FALLING

FAU had the biggest jump of the week within the poll and No. 16 Duke climbed five places after beating No. 17 Baylor 78-70. No. 19 Memphis moved up four places following wins over Virginia and Vanderbilt.

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No. 22 Creighton had the biggest drop of the week, falling 10 places after losing to Villanova in overtime. No. 12 Oklahoma fell five places after losing by 12 to No. 9 North Carolina.

IN AND OUT

No. 25 Providence moved into the poll for the first time since hitting No. 20 last Feb. 27 after beating No. 10 Marquette and Butler last week.

Virginia’s return to the AP Top 25 proved to be short lived. The Cavaliers dropped out this week from No. 22 after the loss to Memphis.

CONFERENCE WATCH

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The Big 12 again had the most ranked teams with six and the Big East had four. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC each had three.

The American Athletic Conference had two ranked teams while the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences had one each.

AP top 25

Team Record Points Prev.
1. Purdue (46) 11-1 1,486 1
2. Kansas (5) 11-1 1,424 2
3. Houston (9) 12-0 1,408 3
4. Arizona 9-2 1,191 4
5. UConn 11-2 1,150 5
6. Tennessee 9-3 1,124 8
7. Florida Atlantic 10-2 1,089 14
8. Kentucky 9-2 1,074 9
9. North Carolina 8-3 954 11
10. Marquette 10-3 928 6
11. Illinois 9-2 902 13
12. Oklahoma 10-1 778 7
13. Gonzaga 9-3 577 15
14. BYU 11-1 575 17
15. Colorado State 11-1 573 16
16. Duke 8-3 551 21
17. Baylor 10-2 532 10
18. Clemson 10-1 513 18
19. Memphis 10-2 493 23
20. James Madison 12-0 417 20
21. Texas 9-2 342 19
22. Creighton 9-3 340 12
23. Wisconsin 9-3 287 24
24. Ole Miss 12-0 243 25
25. Providence 11-2 128 NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Auburn 121, Colorado 64, Miami 51, Utah 45, Virginia 40, Iowa St. 21, Nevada 13, Ohio St. 10, Texas A&M 9, San Diego St. 8, Michigan St. 8, Villanova 6, New Mexico 6, Northwestern 5, Dayton 4, Grand Canyon 3, South Carolina 2, Mississippi St. 2, Alabama 2, Princeton 1.

    Jameer Nelson Jr. gives TCU boost off the bench in Christmas Eve win vs. Hawaii
    2024 NCAA football transfer portal: Tracking moves for Texas, OU and other area schools

Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.



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Oklahoma

Trio of Oklahoma Sooners selected to preseason All-American teams

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Trio of Oklahoma Sooners selected to preseason All-American teams


The Oklahoma Sooners will open the 2025 softball season on Feb. 6 against the CSUN Matadors in San Diego. After a historic season, Oklahoma faces a lot of turnover after losing a number of fixtures in the lineup to graduation.

The Sooners certainly aren’t lacking for talent, however, as a trio of players were named to Softball America’s preseason All-American teams on Tuesday.

Sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering and Utility/DP Ella Parker were named to Softball America’s first team. Newcomer Abby Dayton was named to the second team.

Parker led the Oklahoma Sooners with a .415 batting average from the utility role. She also had 13 home runs and 62 RBIs as a true freshman. Parker hit .500 over Oklahoma’s final four games to clinch their fourth-straight national title.

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Pickering hit .389 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs as a true freshman for the Sooners. In the Women’s College World Series final against Texas, she had home runs in both games against the Texas Longhorns to win the championship.

Abby Dayton is one of a number of impact transfers for the Oklahoma Sooners this season. She led the Pac-12 in batting average, hitting .431 and also had an on-base percentage of .510 for the Utah Utes.

The Oklahoma Sooners will have a new look, but led by this trio of stars, the defending national champions will be ready to compete in the SEC.

More: 5 Oklahoma Sooners included in Softball America’s top 100

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

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Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M

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Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M


Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M

With 17:00 minutes left in the second half, No. 17 Oklahoma led No. 10 Texas A&M 51-33, and with 19 seconds remaining, Zhuric Phelps hit a three-pointer to give the Aggies an 80-78 lead. That score ultimately held, handing Oklahoma a tough loss and dropping them to 13-2 (0-2) on the season, despite leading by as many as 18 points in the second half, getting 34 points from Brycen Goodine, and facing a Texas A&M team without its best player, Wade Taylor.

The first half was all about Brycen Goodine, who put together one of the most impressive halves from a Sooner in recent memory. He tallied 21 points on 6-8 shooting from deep, propelling Oklahoma to a 39-30 halftime lead. The Sooners shot the ball extremely well early, but things fell apart after the break.

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The second half belonged to Phelps, who hit the game-winning three. Phelps, a career 26.1% three-point shooter, erupted for 28 points in the second half alone, including six three-pointers. He finished with 34 points on 11-25 shooting from the field and 6-10 from behind the arc. Despite Goodine’s stellar performance and Oklahoma’s strong start, the Sooners couldn’t withstand Texas A&M’s furious comeback.

Well, here’s the Report Card from Oklahoma’s loss despite: 1) getting 34 points from Goodine, 2) leading by 18 in the second half, and 3) facing a Texas A&M team without its leading scorer.

Offense: D-plus

Good or bad first? Let’s start with the bad.

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In the final eight minutes of the game, Oklahoma made just two (!) field goals. If you’re looking for a “How to Blow a Lead MasterClass,” scoring only twice in crunch time is Lesson 1.

It was those last eight minutes — where the Sooners simply couldn’t get anything going — that cost them the game. That collapse makes it hard to fully appreciate their solid first half, when things were actually clicking.

Oklahoma shot an impressive 14-24 (58.3%) from deep, 25-46 (54.3%) from the field, and 14-17 (82.4%) from the free throw line. They put up 39 first-half points and were firing on all cylinders offensively. But when it mattered most — those crucial final eight minutes — they completely imploded.

Starting Five: C-minus

Let’s start with Jeremiah Fears, who logged only 21 minutes. Fears finished with 13 points, four rebounds, four turnovers, and three assists while shooting 4-8 from the field, 1-3 from behind the arc, and 4-5 from the free throw line. There were plenty of freshman moments, but it felt like his reduced minutes prevented him from finding a rhythm—something that became evident when Oklahoma turned to him as a potential hero late in the game.

Duke Miles added 8 points on 2-6 shooting from the field and 2-4 from deep, along with three rebounds, three assists, and three turnovers in just 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Kobe Elvis was a non-factor offensively, scoring 0 points in 27 minutes. He shot 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc but did record eight assists, most of which were to Goodine. Despite the assists, Elvis struggled with the physicality of the game and contributed little else.

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Jalon Moore played 33 minutes and contributed 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 2-3 from deep, along with four rebounds, three turnovers, and two blocks. Sam Godwin added 6 points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 26 minutes while shooting 3-5 from the field.

Overall, it was a rough night for the starting five. Fears had his freshman struggles, Elvis couldn’t handle the physicality, and while Miles and Moore were solid, neither had standout performances.

Bench: A-plus

The Sooners got an incredible 34 points out of Goodine on 10-14 shooting from the field and 9-11 from behind the arc. He also shot 5-6 from the free-throw line. Goodine was on fire from the jump, knocking down six of his three-pointers in the first half. He put together one of the best shooting performances ever seen by a Sooner, in fact, tying Mookie Blaylock and Hollis Price for the fourth-most three-pointers in a game in Oklahoma history. After a rough showing from the bench against Alabama, this performance from Goodine was exactly what the team needed.

Additionally, Mohamed Wague had a solid first half, playing 12 quality minutes before only seeing two minutes in the second half. He scored 2 points, added two rebounds, one assist, and a block. His biggest struggle was not being able to playmake off the short roll, but aside from that, his first half was encouraging.

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Oklahoma got 34 points from Goodine, solid minutes from Wague, and good contributions from Glenn Taylor, who scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting from the field. Overall, it was a strong performance from the bench, which makes this loss even more puzzling.

Ball Security: F

Arguably the main reason Oklahoma lost this game was turnovers. A team that has been solid at taking care of the ball all season long imploded, committing 18 turnovers—twice as many as their opponent. Beating a top-10 team while turning the ball over 18 times is incredibly difficult, and it wasn’t just in the second half where turnovers haunted this team. Despite getting 21 points from Goodine, Oklahoma led by just nine at halftime.

That was, in large part, due to turnovers, as they gave the ball away eight times in the first half. The turnovers made it difficult for the Sooners to extend their lead. Pair those eight first-half turnovers with Phelps’ explosive second half performance and Oklahoma’s inability to score more than two field goals in the final eight minutes, and you have the recipe for a tough loss.

Oklahoma’s guards collapsed when Texas A&M ramped up their pressure in the second half, leading to an influx of turnovers and ultimately contributing to the defeat.

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Oklahoma City area shelters ready to house people through freezing temperatures, snow

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Oklahoma City area shelters ready to house people through freezing temperatures, snow


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A local winter shelter has hundreds of beds for people experiencing homelessness, but the number of people seeking overnight shelter quickly swelled as freezing temperatures descended, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Taylor Self, communications director for the Homeless Alliance said the organization’s winter shelter, which opened in 2023, offers overnight shelter from November through March 31. Self said the Homeless Alliance leaders anticipated more people would seek safety and warmth at the shelter, 1601 NW 4, as temperatures plummeted in recent days, and their expectations were borne out.

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“The great thing about it is it’s open nightly, and it’s open seven nights a week, so no matter the temperature, we’ve got space for up to 300 adults, and we also have space for pets and personal belonging storage,” she said.

“We’ve got space for up to 300, and when it was warmer in November and December, we were still seeing about 200 roughly, each night. Once the temperatures really started to drop, we’ve been seeing over 350 folks, especially since Monday, and I expect we’ll see it again, especially with the possible snow in the forecast tomorrow.”

Leaders at several other shelters also said they were meeting the need as people began seeking respite from temperatures dipping below freezing.

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Annie Perkins, development and marketing manager for The Salvation Army Arkansas and Oklahoma Division Central Oklahoma Area Command, said the overnight shelter at The Salvation Army Center of Hope, 1001 N Pennsylvania, offers 120 beds for men, women and families, and it consistently stays full throughout the year.

Perkins said shelter guests check in about 3 p.m. each evening and are typically required to leave about 7 a.m., but they are allowed to remain at the shelter during the day during freezing weather.

“We are incredibly blessed to be able to offer emergency shelter and know that it’s of dire importance during this time of the year, and so we’re grateful for the community support,” she said.

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Alex McGowan Rayburn, community engagement director at Sisu Youth Services, said the organization offers five emergency weather beds at its drop-in center for young people seeking shelter when the weather dips below freezing. She said the drop-in center has been full each night this week.

A single mother with an infant and two other young children was among families welcomed to an emergency shelter set up at a downtown Oklahoma City church this week.

The Rev. Katie Churchwell, dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, said the church opened on Sunday as an overflow shelter for families like the mom and her young trio. The church at 127 NW 7 began offering emergency shelter during freezing temperatures two years ago and, in April, the Oklahoma City Council gave its official approval for the house of worship to serve as a temporary cold weather shelter.

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Churchwell praised the church volunteers, particularly Stephanie Jensen, a staff member serving as shelter coordinator, who had worked to get the shelter open on Sunday and continue to help in the ensuing days.

“We’ve got our outreach center to equip our families with items that they need, like shoes and things like that, and then, of course, space to sleep, to eat,” she said.

“It’s just been beautiful to see how many people have just given themselves to care for people in these really extreme moments.”

Churchwell said she was happy to report that the single mom was at the church for only a short time before more permanent shelter was found for them at City Rescue Mission. She said there were many partnering agencies working together to meet the needs of such families, offering things like housing and education for the children.



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