After losing star freshman Jeremiah Fears to the NBA draft, where does Oklahoma basketball stand going into the 2025-26 season?
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Oklahoma basketball.
Oklahoma is entering Porter Moser’s fifth season in Norman. It’s hard to believe it’s about to hit the half-decade mark of Moser at Oklahoma, and it still feels weird referring to him as an SEC head coach. Hello, conference realignment. Last season, the Sooners started on a torrid pace, entering 2025 undefeated at 13-0. While that only lasted three days (courtesy of Alabama), it eventually was enough to earn Oklahoma a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma finished 6-12 against SEC teams despite star freshman Jeremiah Fears breaking out into a true All-SEC talent. Fears dropped 31 against Missouri, 30 on Michigan, and put up a 27-5-10 statline in a win against Mississippi State. At times, Fears would simply take over the game, and he was highly deserving of the seventh overall pick he was selected with in the offseason draft.
In addition to Fears, six of the seven other players who recorded a start for the Sooners are gone. That includes Jalon Moore, Duke Miles, and Sam Godwin, all whom started 30+ games. Two notable names from last year return, those being Dayton Forsythe and Mohamed Wague.
At the point, Moser got a big pickup from St. Joe’s transfer Xzayvier Brown. Brown was a first-team All-A-10 selection as a sophomore last season, and he’ll try to fill the shoes that Fears left in Norman. If any player on the roster can do that, it’s Brown. A true shooter sits behind him on the depth chart, the aforementioned Forsythe. Forsythe shot 44.7% from deep last season, which is elite, even in a small sample size. He’ll be valuable off the bench.
Nijel Pack is still playing college basketball, and it’s autumn in 2025. Pack has been playing college basketball for so long that he beat Oklahoma when Lon Kruger was still coaching the Sooners. No joke. As a freshman with Kansas State, Pack put up nine points and nine assists in a 62-57 win over, bear with me, Austin Reaves and Brady Manek. Reaves is currently entering his fifth year in the NBA and played with Carmelo Anthony in the association.
After two years at Kansas State and three at Miami, Pack is back with a new team for what is presumably his last year of college basketball. He’ll join Brown in the backcourt as the Sooners’ starting shooting guard. He isn’t the tallest guard (5’10”), but he’s averaged 12.0+ PPG in all five seasons of basketball he’s played at the collegiate level. Sometimes, you’ve just got to roll with the guy who can get the ball in the bucket. Jadon Jones is now able to play after being held out of last year’s season with an injury. He averaged 12.1 PPG with Long Beach State two years ago and could be a nice piece off the bench.
The wing situation is worth monitoring. Alabama transfer Derrion Reid was a nice portal pickup, but keep in mind that Jeff Nwankwo is healthy and at 100% heading into the season as well. The JUCO transfer from a year ago made quite the splash at the lower level, and could snatch a starting position. This might be the position battle most worth watching in the offseason. (Don’t forget about four-star freshman Alec Blair, who might also be a factor.)
Tae Davis transferred in from Notre Dame in the offseason, and he’s slated to start at the power forward position after putting up over 15 PPG and 5 RPG last season with the Fighting Irish. A pair of freshmen, Kuol Atak and Andreas Holst, figure to sit behind him in the rotation. At the center spot, Mohamed Wague figures to be lone returner to hold a starting spot. He only averaged 3.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG last season, but showed flashes, including a 12-9-4 statline in a win over Georgia. Look out for freshman Kai Rogers, who could take time away from Wague in the rotation. Rogers might be the most SEC-ready of the freshman class.
Every year in the SEC is dangerous. In 2025, that rings true again. Oklahoma will have to fight for a spot in the tournament, and there’s no guarantee that another 6-12 season in-conference is going to get them there.
Head coach: Porter Moser (5th season at Oklahoma, 22nd overall)
2024-25 record: 20-14 (6-12)
2025 postseason finish: Lost to UConn, 67-59, in first round of NCAA Tournament
Notable departures:
- Jeremiah Fears (17.1 PPG, 4.1 APG, 4.1 RPG)
- Jalon Moore (15.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 0.6 APG)
- Duke Miles (9.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.0 APG)
- Brycen Goodine (8.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.3 APG)
- Kobe Elvis (7.7 PPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 RPG)
- Sam Godwin (6.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 0.8 APG)
Notable non-conference games:
- at Gonzaga (Nov. 8)
- vs. Nebraska (Nov. 15) – Sioux Falls, S.D.
- vs. Marquette (Nov. 28) – Chicago
- at Wake Forest (Dec. 2)
- at Arizona State (Dec. 6) – Phoenix
- vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 13) – Oklahoma City
Projected Rotation
PG: Xzayvier Brown (6-2, 182, Jr.)
2024-25 stats: 17.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 4.3 APG, 89.7 FT% (St. Joe’s)
SG: Nijel Pack (5-10, 188, R-Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 13.9 PPG, 4.3 APG, 3.0 RPG, 9 GP (Miami)
SF: Derrion Reid (6-8, 226, So.)
2024-25 stats: 6.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.7 APG (Alabama)
PF: Tae Davis (6-9, 215, Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 15.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.8 APG (Notre Dame)
C: Mohamed Wague (6-10, 225, Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 3.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.4 APG
6: Dayton Forsythe (6-2, 190, So.)
2024-25 stats: 4.3 PPG, 1.1 RPG, 1.0 APG, 44.7 3P%
7: Jadon Jones (6-5, 180, Rs.-Sr.)
Did not play in 2024-25
2023-24 stats: 12.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.2 BPG (Long Beach State)
8: Jeff Nwankwo (6-6, 210, Rs.-Sr.)
Did not play in 2024-25
2023-24 stats: 18.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.0 APG (Cowley College)
9: Kuol Atak (6-9, 192, Rs.-Fr.)
Redshirted in 2024-25
10: Kai Rogers (6-10, 247, Fr.)
247Sports Composite #107-ranked recruit
11: Alec Blair (6-7, 192, Fr.)
247Sports Composite #60-ranked recruit
12: Andreas Holst (7-0, 200, Fr.)
International Prospect (Denmark)
Oklahoma basketball team MVP: Xzayvier Brown
Brown did it all for St. Joe’s last season. In fact, he led the team in points, assists, steals, free-throw percentage, usage percentage, and points produced. His free-throw percentage of 89.7% led the A-10 and was 13th nationally amongst all qualifying D-I players. The Sooners need to replace Jeremiah Fears somehow, and Brown is about as good as it gets in terms of under-the-radar portal pickups. The 6’2″ guard made waves as a freshman with the Hawks, then still improved considerably as a sophomore.
Brown’s performance strongly correlated with team success last year: in games in which Brown scored 20+ points, St. Joe’s was 11-3. In all other games, the Hawks were just 11-10. In a neutral-site win over Texas Tech, who made the Elite Eight last March, Brown scored 20 points, recorded six assists, three rebounds, and two steals. That’s including a 13-13 mark from the free-throw line in what turned out to be a one-point victory. Don’t let anybody say that free throws don’t matter.
Oklahoma basketball make-or-break player: Derrion Reid
Reid was a surprising addition to the transfer portal this past offseason. After a solid debut season for the Tide, he was in line for a starting job in a system he was familiar with. But for reasons, he’s now in Norman, and Sooners fans shouldn’t be upset about that. Oklahoma doesn’t have much proven depth at the wing, with Nwankwo missing the past season with injury and a couple of freshmen coming to campus. Reid has a chance to be that veteran production, even as a true sophomore.
Reid isn’t the typical Moser recruit (57.9 FT% in 2024-25), but the Sooners need him to produce. There’s been flashes of pretty good potential (12 points against Creighton and 11 against UNC), and Reid actually scored 11 points and added three rebounds against the Sooners last season.
Key analytic: Free-throw percentage
Porter Moser clearly cares about free-throw percentage. Last season, the Sooners were fifth in D-I with a 79.5% team free-throw clip. Three starters (Fears, Moore, Duke Miles) had a free-throw percentage of 80.0% or better. None of those players return, but keep in mind that Xzayvier Brown led the A-10 in free-throw percentage last year. Nijel Pack, as a junior at Miami, shot 88.2% from the line.
Did the Sooners get to the line enough last season to make their clip valuable? Absolutely. Oklahoma averaged 22.2 attempts from the line per game in 2024-25. That was 36th nationally, and the team’s mark of 17.7 made free throws over the course of the season was 10th-best in D-I. Porter Moser clearly has an appreciation for the fundamentals, and there’s really no reason to believe that the Sooners will stop making free throws any time soon.
Oklahoma basketball 2025-26 projections
Projected conference finish: 13th in the SEC
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Round of 32 Exit