Hartford, Conn. — Hollis Price made it clear he and his Oklahoma teammates like where they are in the rankings.
The Sooners moved up to a season-best No. 5 on Monday, then beat Connecticut 69-67 for their 11th straight victory.
"We're ranked No. 5 in the nation and if we had lost it would be that way for one day," Price said. "We didn't want that. All year we want No. 5 or higher."
The Sooners (12-1) dominated on the offensive boards and came up with the game's biggest basket. Ebi Ere's driving jumper with 16 seconds to play was Oklahoma's only field goal over the final 51/2 minutes, but it broke a 67-67 tie.
"I was trying to get to the basket or draw a foul or penetrate and dish if they helped," said Ere, a junior college transfer, who finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. "They didn't come after me, and the shot was there."
Connecticut (8-3) had two chances to win the game, but Tony Robertson turned the ball over on the first possession after Ere's game-winner. Oklahoma's Jason Detrick, a 77 percent free-throw shooter, was fouled with 2.8 seconds left and missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
After Connecticut called a timeout with 2.1 seconds left, Johnnie Selvie inbounded the ball to Ben Gordon on the right side. He took two dribbles inside halfcourt and his 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
"I thought I got hit, but the refs aren't going to call it at the end," Gordon said. "The game could have been decided earlier if we had gotten more rebounds."
Price added 17 points for Oklahoma, which finished with a 45-32 rebounding advantage, including 28-12 at the offensive end.
"We got tattooed on the boards," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "That's how we lost the basketball game."
Caron Butler led the Huskies with 25 points, while Selvie had 12, and freshman Emeka Okafor had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight blocked shots.
With Ere scoring 17 points, 1.5 more than his average for the season, Oklahoma took a 40-33 halftime lead. The Sooners were up 66-56 with 5:38 left on a basket by Jabahri Brown. That was Oklahoma's last field goal until Ere's game-winner, and Connecticut tied it 67-67 the first tie since 6-6 on a rebound basket by Butler with 46 seconds to play.
New Orleans 76,
No. 20 Tulane 69
New Orleans Yolanda White shot 17-of-21 from the free-throw line and scored 21 points to lead New Orleans. Jasmine Smiri added 19 points, and reserve Lora Ruddy scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds for New Orleans (4-11). Teanna McKiver scored 22 points for Tulane (13-3), and reserve Jessica Carroll added 16.
No. 24 Butler 62, Cleveland St. 45
Cleveland Rylan Hainje and Thomas Jackson scored 14 points apiece for the Bulldogs (14-1 overall, 1-1 Horizon), who looked rusty early in their first game since losing the conference opener to Wright State in double overtime last week. Reserve Pete Ritzema scored just seven points, but that led Cleveland State (7-7, 1-2), which shot 31 percent from the field while playing its sixth games in 12 days.
Big 12
Texas 68, Providence 48
Austin, Texas Brandon Mouton scored 18 points and James Thomas grabbed 17 rebounds in a dominating effort on the boards. The Longhorns (10-4) have won three straight since losing star forward Chris Owens for the season with a knee injury. Ryan Gomes scored 19 for Providence (9-7), which has lost three in a row. Texas outrebounded Providence 49-22 for the game. Texas was 6-of-13 from 3-point range while the Friars were just 3-of-17.
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