NORMAN — Desperation mode had officially hit for Oklahoma prior to Wednesday's game against Missouri. The Sooners simply needed to play like their season was on the line.

For the first 20 minutes, they executed that to a tee.

The Sooners came out on fire offensively, making 16 of their first 20 shots. Jeremiah Fears and Sam Godwin were particularly cooking, combining for 25 points on perfect 10-for-10 shooting. The Tigers were aggressive in their defensive coverages, and the Sooners exploited that and creating easy looks as they shot 69% from the floor (20-of-29) from the floor, 57% from the 3-point line (4-of-7) and 100% from the free throw line (6-of-6). As a result, the Sooners went into halftime with a 50-37 lead.

That proved to be the outburst they needed, as the Sooners rode that momentum to a 96-84 win over the 15th-ranked Tigers for Senior Night on Wednesday.

"I thought that start got us out of the gate confident, because I’ve seen Missouri start so fast," OU coach Porter Moser said. "I really believe Missouri’s a team you could see playing at the end. I just think they got a lot of pieces, and I know we played really well tonight, and we needed it, but I think that start was huge, and Sam got us off to that start.”

That hot shooting was the difference considering the Sooners' shooting came back to earth in the second half. They shot 44% from the floor (12-of-27) in the second half and 30% from 3 (3-of-10). That helped keep the Tigers in it — the Sooners built an 18-point lead with 12 minutes to go before the Tigers cut it to eight with 4:53 remaining. The Tigers actually outscored the Sooners 47-46 in the second half.

But that first-half lead proved insurmountable, and the Sooners made just enough plays down the stretch to close it out.

""Now we look more like we did earlier," Moser said. "We just had a window there for 4-5 games where we didn't handle it well. It's growth... They cut it to nine, and we made some plays."

Fears delivered another fantastic performance, scoring 31 points (9-of-13 shooting, 12-of-12 free throw) while adding four rebounds and five assists.

The Sooners, who are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, improve to 18-12 (5-12 SEC) and remain in the hunt for the postseason.

— One of the few negatives on the night was the injury to Sam Godwin, who exited the first half with a knee injury. Godwin didn't return to the bench until midway through the second half, and he was wearing a leg brace and wasn't in uniform.

It was a really tough night for the senior, who scored 12 points on perfect shooting (5/5) and was a plus-18 in 11 minutes. Moser said Godwin will have an MRI tomorrow.

"We’ll see," Moser said. "Just hugged him. I said Missouri starts out so fast. Back-to-back games getting gut-punched. Your start energized everybody. The confidence he had to start us off again. I think he was 5-of-5, so he’s made 21 of his last 22 shots. He’s playing the best basketball of his career in the last four games.

"Let's hope for the best. we’ll see. Just left him in the training room. MRI is tomorrow."

— However, Mohamed Wague stepped up and played good minutes in relief of Godwin. He scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, and had a stretch of six straight points after Missouri cut the lead to nine points midway through the second half.

— In addition to Fears' 31 points, he also turned the ball over just once. The Sooners turned the ball over just nine times overall, while Missouri turned it over 10 times.

"I think the thing is, I thought his transition defense, his defense, his strength with the ball was at a high level, and that just changes us," Moser said. "But he can draw 10 fouls. His speed when they're coming running a trap, his speed to get around that is just huge for us. I tell you though, I thought his defense was more possession by possession oriented. I thought that was really key for us.

"I know I keep coming back to it, but to only have one turnover all game against Missouri, when that's an elite length, pressure defense and to only have one turnover, that's a storyline right there for Fears' game.

— Jalon Moore, who suffered an ankle injury last Saturday against Ole Miss, looked a bit off in the first half. He went into halftime with four points on 2-of-6 shooting and he missed a couple of easy layups, serving mostly as a decoy.

He made a big 3-pointer early in the second half but otherwise stayed productive with his rebounding, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

— The Sooners' 50 first-half points was particularly surprising given they scored 58 points in their 24-point loss at Missouri last month.

— Mark Mitchell (18 points) and Caleb Grill (16 points) were the only Tigers who provided much on offense. Grill, who hit four 3-pointers, did his best to keep the Tigers in it in the second half.

—The Sooners made 25 of their 26 free throw attempts (96%) and outscored Missouri 48-34 in the paint.

— ESPN listed the Sooners as the first team out of the projected NCAA Tournament field on Monday. With this win, it sets down a massive showdown with the Longhorns in Saturday's regular-season finale (7 p.m. SEC Network).

The Longhorns, who beat the Sooners in Norman back in January, are also firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

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