Thursday began the inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational, San Diego’s lone men’s college basketball tournament.
The tournament – consisting of the Big 12’s Oklahoma Sooners, the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes, the Pac-12’s USC Trojans, and the Big East’s Seton Hall Pirates – did a phenomenal job bringing in teams that draw in crowds.
A near-capacity crowd of 3,588 fans were treated to a pair of matchups between Oklahoma and Iowa in the opening game, and USC and Seton Hall in the second game.
As for the games themselves, Oklahoma took control early in the first half, taking a 36-24 halftime lead, and maintaining that lead for the majority of the second half for a 79-67 Sooners victory.
The Sooners brought the energy in the second half with great plays and dunks alike.
.@OtegaOweh dropping the hammer 🔨
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) November 23, 2023
📺 » FS1 | #BoomerSooner ☝ pic.twitter.com/IfCoqMngST
And highlighted by this Jalon Moore slam dunk as he was fouled that got his team’s bench and the hundreds of Oklahoma fans in attendance on their feet:
JALON MOORE ONE HANDED POSTER 😤 😱 @jalonmoore3 X @OU_MBBall pic.twitter.com/eo6rEXVNhk
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 23, 2023
Then Otega Oweh finished it off with this one.
Air Otega 🫡#BoomerSooner ☝ | @OtegaOweh pic.twitter.com/xedye4yNyD
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) November 23, 2023
USC and Seton Hall went back-and-forth in the game’s first 10 minutes before the Trojans went on a 11-0 run to take a 32-22 halftime lead. The Trojans went on another 10-0 run to open the second half that set them up to win. Seton Hall battled back on a 22-7 run in the span of almost nine minutes to get within three points but USC put an end to that run just in time for a 71-63 victory.
USC senior guard and Mission Bay High School alumnus Boogie Ellis led all players with 22 points in the Trojans’ eight-point win in his first return to San Diego since his high school days.
Oklahoma and USC will play at 12:30 p.m. to open the second day of the tournament to determine the inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational champion. Iowa and Seton Hall will play after the first game, slated for 3 p.m. at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.