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DALLAS (AP) -- Had Aaron McGhee stayed at Cincinnati, he could be out
of the NCAA Tournament -- and Oklahoma might not be playing next
weekend, either.
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The kids from Xavier battled and battled, but in the end Oklahoma forward Aaron McGhee (25 points) and guard Ebi Ere (20) were too much. McGhee is one of my Elite Eight PTPers from the first two rounds; he scored 26 in the Sooners' first-round victory over Illinois-Chicago. McGhee has been a dominant force on the inside for coach Kelvin Sampson.
Sampson is one of America's premiere coaches, and he has his Sooners ready to make some noise. David West and Co. tested Oklahoma, but McGhee and Ere were too much too handle. Oklahoma now advances to the Sweet 16 to face Arizona -- wow, what a matchup! The magical passing ability of Luke Walton vs. the multi-talented offensive ability of Ebi Ere ... McGhee vs. Channing Frye on the interior ... Sampson vs. Lute Olson. What a big-time game, baby!
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McGhee left the Bearcats after one season fearing he wouldn't
get enough playing time. He latched on with the Sooners two years
ago and his career has been on the rise ever since.
The bulky forward with the soft outside touch scored 25 points
Sunday, leading Oklahoma past Xavier 78-65 and sending the Sooners
to the Midwest Regional semifinals.
OU (29-4) won its 10th straight, and 14th of 15, proving again
why it felt it deserved a No. 1 seed, instead of a 2. The one they
likely lost out on went to McGhee's old team, which was eliminated
Sunday by UCLA.
McGhee took no satisfaction in the turnabout. His joy was
strictly about getting the Sooners one step closer to a national
championship, and a giant leap from the memory of their first-round
wipeout last season, his first at OU.
"I just wanted to go out and have one of my best games,"
McGhee said. "It was because this is the farthest I've advanced in
the NCAA Tournament."
The Sooners are the fourth Big 12 team among the 16 playing next
weekend. They'll play Arizona (24-9) in San Jose, Calif., on
Thursday.
McGhee, who scored 26 points in the first round, mostly inside,
stretched his game to avoid an inside battle with Xavier big man
David West.
Although he has the body of a banger -- including tatoos such as
a flaming basketball, an ace of spades and the phrase "Ball till I
fall" in script, all on his shooting arm -- McGhee is just as
comfortable outside.
"He gets a little frisky with his 3 sometimes," OU coach
Kelvin Sampson said, "but I've had to learn to live with his
misses."
McGhee started with a 3-pointer, then hit three jumpers, turning
two into three-point plays, all before West had his first points.
He scored 11 of OU's first 18, then broke a second-half tie at 49
and put the Sooners ahead for good by scoring eight of their next
11.
"We just let him get off to too quick of a start," West said.
Romain Sato kept Xavier (26-6) afloat early, scoring 16 of the
Musketeers' first 18 points.
|  | | Aaron McGhee scored 25 points to lead the Sooners to their 10th straight victory. |
West, a second-team All-America, scored only one basket the
first 17 minutes, but once he found his shot, he scored 10 straight
to tie the game at 40.
The Musketeers, who had won seven in a row and were 21-2 since
starting 5-3, knotted it up three more times but never led.
"We missed a couple of free throws, they hit a couple of big
shots and we couldn't get over the hump," first-year coach Thad
Matta said. "The things we feared OU doing happened."
Sato, scoreless for 17 minutes after his hot start, finished
with 28 points, including a 30-footer to end his drought. West had
18 points and eight rebounds.
"We challenged Dave at halftime and he answered the call,"
Matta said.
Ebi Ere had 20 points, including baskets immediately answering
the Xavier's first two ties, and seven rebounds. Hollis Price added
12 points and Quannas White scored nine.
The Sooners last reached the second weekend of the NCAA
Tournament in 1999, when they lost to Michigan State in the
regional semis.
Last year, McGhee's first after a season in junior college,
ended with OU getting upset by Indiana State in the first round. He
talked this week about that defeat lingering in his mind throughout
the offseason.
McGhee was in a rut at the start of conference play, then
snapped out of it in a big way in February, averaging 21.3 points
and 9.3 rebounds in the month. His numbers dipped in the Big 12
tournament, which OU won, but he bounced back Friday with a big
game against Illinois-Chicago.
"Early in the year, he was down on himself because he wasn't
playing the way he's capable," Price said. "For two months now,
he's been great."
His two free throws with 11:15 left to put OU up for good, then
he started building the lead -- and getting the Oklahoma crowd into
it -- with a short jumper in the lane over West.
A 3-pointer by White forced Xavier to call a timeout, but fans
used that opportunity to start chanting "Boomer Sooner" and
became as vocal as ever. McGhee gave them two more chances to roar
by hitting a long jumper then making two of three free throws after
West fouled him while shooting a 3-pointer.
"It got to a point," McGhee said, "where I couldn't hear the
plays that were called." | 
