Louisville Cardinals (5-1) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (6-0)

Battle 4 Atlantis Championship Game

Playing time: 5:30 p.m

Location: Imperial Arena: Paradise Island, Bahamas

TV: ESPN

Announcer: Dave O’Brien (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst)

Favorite: Louisville by 3.5

Series: Oklahoma leads 3-1

Last meeting: Louisville won 78-48 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2008 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Series history:

Expected starting lineups:

Louisville

• G Chucky Hepburn (6-2, 190, Sr.)
• G J’Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, Sr.)
• G/F Terrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, Sr.)
• F Noah Waterman (6-11, 230, Sr,
• F Kasean Pryor (6-10, 225, Sr.)

Oklahoma

• G Kobe Elvis (6-1,180, size)
• G Duke Miles (6-2, 188, R-Sr.)
• G Jeremiah Fears (6-4, 192, Fr.)
• F Jalon Moore (6-7, 215, Sr.)
• F Sam Godwin (6-10, 240, Sr.)

Statistics:

Relevant videos:

Previous season:

About Oklahoma:

One of the more unlikely conclusions to the Battle 4 Atlantis comes Friday night when Louisville takes on Oklahoma for the tournament championship. Neither was the first-round favorite and neither was among the top three oddsmakers to win the tournament when they arrived in the Bahamas.

The undefeated Sooners advanced to the title game with narrow wins over Providence and Arizona. In both cases, OU held a comfortable lead until the final minute before things got closer than they needed to be.

This appears to be a pivotal season for Porter Moser, who famously led Loyola to the Final Four in 2018 but has yet to lead the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament since arriving in Norman in 2021. OU was picked to finish 15th out of 16 teams in the SEC preseason media poll, but it appeared to be a team that would generate far more buzz over the past 48 hours.

While the schedule was tight before arriving on Paradise Island, Oklahoma has put up some eye-popping offensive numbers all season. The Sooners have scored 79 or more points in five of their six games and rank in the top 80 nationally in shooting at all three levels (three, two, free throw).

So far this season, OU has been the electrifying 6-foot-1 freshman guard Jeremiah’s fears. The former four-star recruit is a threat to score from anywhere and enters Friday’s game averaging 18.0 ppg. He is the most dynamic playmaker on this Oklahoma team and has 46 points and 12 assists in two Battle 4 Atlantis games so far. He also turned the ball over eleven times, which might get on the nerves of Chucky Hepburn and Co.

Senior striker Jalon Moore played two seasons at Georgia Tech before transferring to OU last season and is currently playing by far the best basketball of his college career. He ranks second on the team in both scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg) and scored a season-high 24 points in the win over Arizona. The 6-foot-2 Moore is a capable outside shooter, but he does his best work inside the arc.

A pair of transfer guards – Kobe Elvis from Dayton and Duke Miles from High Point – also average double-digit points and have the potential to come into play from deep if given too much space.

Sam Godwin isn’t much of a threat offensively, but he’s a very capable interior defender and does most of the team’s dirty work on the glass.

Oklahoma won’t have as many ups and downs as Louisville, but their halfcourt attack will feel familiar. Most of the time they will play as a four and try to stretch the opposition defense to create driving lanes or outside shooting opportunities. So far things have looked extremely fluid and effective in the Bahamas.

While Oklahoma’s offense has been great so far this season, Moser is known more as a coach who puts defense first.

Oklahoma will play a hybrid defense that utilizes elements of different philosophies. This makes preparation difficult, especially if the preparation time is less than 24 hours.

The Sooners will aggressively turn on the screens towards The ball handler sometimes creates steal opportunities, which is very good for him. Oklahoma ranks third nationally in theft rate and 22nd in turnover rate. In a game where both teams thrived by losing the ball, whichever team has the most possession could ultimately decide who brings the tournament title back to their home country.

Notable:

—Louisville has had 31 regular-season tournament championships in its history. The Cardinals had lost five straight regular-season tournament games before Wednesday’s win over Indiana.

—Louisville has an 8-2 record in Battle 4 Atlantis and is 6-2 in tournament play in the Bahamas. The Cardinals made it to the championship game in their two previous appearances: U of L lost to Duke in the 2012 title game and lost to Baylor in the 2016 title game.

– Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The squad has made a total of 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at its previous schools and has played in 20 NCAA Tournament games over the course of its career.

—Oklahoma is 6-2 all-time in Battle 4 Atlantis. The Sooners reached the 2014 championship game, where they lost to Wisconsin.

—ACC teams are 0-7 in games against SEC teams so far this season.

– OU is ranked in the top 60 in 11 NCAA-DI categories and ranks 12th in steals per game (11.0), 21st in free throw percentage (79.3), 36th in points margin (17.5) and 37th in forced turnovers per game (16.0). 43rd in three-point defense (27.5), 44th in turnover margin (4.0), 54th in effective field goal percentage (55.9), 54th in fastbreak points (15.0), 58th in three pointers per game (9.7), 59th in assists per game (16.3) and 60th in scoring defense (65.2).

– Louisville has a 256-80 record against non-conference opponents over the last 23 seasons (including postseason).

– The winner of the Battle 4 Atlantis has won the NCAA Championship twice: the Villanova Wildcats in 2017-18 and the Virginia Cavaliers in 2018-19.

– Under Porter Moser, Oklahoma is 9-1 in MTE play, including back-to-back championships at the 2022 ESPN Events Invitational and the 2023 Rady Children’s Invitational. The Sooners finished 2-1 in the Myrtle Beach Invitational, defeating East Carolina and Indiana State before They lost to Utah State in the championship game.

– Before transferring to Oklahoma prior to the 2023-24 season, senior Jalon Moore spent two seasons at Georgia Tech, appearing four times against Louisville as a member of the Yellow Jackets and averaging 3.8 rebounds and 3. 0 points.

—Louisville has a 223-15 record over the last 21 seasons and a 4-0 record this season when scoring 80 or more points.

– Louisville has a 14-0 record over the last 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than a three-point field goal.

– Since 2004, Louisville is 130-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.

–Louisville has a 115-0 all-time record when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.

—Louisville has won 163 consecutive games while holding an opponent under 50 points.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 74, Oklahoma 73