No. 16 Washington holds off No. 15 Oklahoma

LAS VEGAS — Are the Huskies for real?

It’s a question that’s been asked frequently about the Washington men’s basketball team, which is off to its best start in nine years.

The 16th-ranked Huskies delivered an emphatic answer Saturday night with a gritty 69-67 victory over No. 15 Oklahoma in the MGM Grand Showcase.

After a three-year absence, it’s safe for UW fans to realistically think about returning to the NCAA tournament. That’s what a 10-0 start and a pair of victories against ranked teams will do. Washington beat then-No. 13 San Diego State 49-36 two weeks ago.

“If you look, you have to say that we’ve passed every test that’s been put before us in the nonconference up to this point,” coach Lorenzo Romar said.

“The thing about this group is we don’t get rattled. We’ve been down before in the second half and just kept chipping away. Tonight was a different challenge, but we got it done.”

Saturday, the Huskies nearly blew a 20-point lead. They scored just three points in the final four minutes while relying on their defense to hold off the Sooners.

With 26 seconds left, Oklahoma had the ball and trailed by one point. With Andrew Andrews in his face, Oklahoma sophomore guard Jordan Woodard’s jumper bounced on the rim three times before falling away. Andrews collected the rebound and drew a foul with 0.6 seconds left.

He made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. The Sooners called a quick timeout. Trailing by two points, they had just 0.3 seconds left.

Oklahoma’s Ryan Spangler threw a long inbound pass that was deflected, and time expired.

Jernard Jarreau led the Huskies with 12 points, while Upshaw and Mike Anderson each had 11.