Sometimes, sports gives us moments that feel too on-the-nose to be real. Like a popcorn machine catching fire in the Lloyd Noble Center minutes before tipoff on Valentine’s Day - just as Oklahoma, a team that’s weathered its share of meltdowns this season, was about to take the floor.
But that’s exactly what happened Saturday in Norman. Just four minutes before Oklahoma and Georgia were set to tip off, a literal fire broke out in the main concourse.
The source? A popcorn machine.
The result? A brief delay, a lot of smoke, and - somehow - a spark that seemed to ignite something in the Sooners.
Once the smoke cleared (literally), Oklahoma came out playing with a purpose we haven’t consistently seen during Porter Moser’s fifth season at the helm. The Sooners, now 13-12 overall and 3-9 in SEC play, put together one of their most complete performances of the year, knocking off a Georgia team currently projected to be in the NCAA Tournament field. The 94-78 win marked Oklahoma’s second straight victory - a rare bright spot in a season that’s featured a nine-game losing streak and more than a few gut-punch finishes.
This one, though? This one felt different.
The Sooners didn’t just win - they controlled the game. They played with urgency, intensity, and, yes, maybe even a little fire. Whether it was the Valentine’s Day energy or the literal flames in the building, Oklahoma looked like a team trying to rewrite the narrative of its season.
And if you’re looking for a little levity in the chaos, the SEC Network broadcast team of Kevin Fitzgerald and Rodney Terry delivered. As the smoke billowed and the delay unfolded, they leaned into the moment with the kind of live-TV improvisation that makes college basketball so much fun.
“Oh my goodness, we’ve got a full-blown fire going on right now,” Terry exclaimed, cutting in as Fitzgerald was mid-sentence talking about Oklahoma’s big win at Vanderbilt the week before.
“A popcorn machine it looks like,” Fitzgerald added, as the overhead sprinklers kicked into action. “You can see the sprinkler overhead system is working. … Goodness gracious.”
Terry didn’t miss the opportunity for a well-timed nod to pop culture: “We literally had the roof on fire. The roof is on fire.”
Fittingly, Terry himself has some history in that building. He won on that very court last season as the head coach of Texas - a victory that helped earn the Longhorns an NCAA Tournament berth. But even that success wasn’t enough to keep him in Austin past year three.
As for Moser and the Sooners, Saturday’s win doesn’t erase the struggles of the past few months. But it does offer a glimpse of what this team is capable of when it finds its rhythm - and maybe, just maybe, a shot at finishing the season with some momentum.
Because in a year where the flames have felt all too real, Oklahoma finally found a way to rise from the smoke and deliver a performance worth remembering.