MBI Championship Game Notes

Sunday’s championship game marks the second time that Oklahoma and Utah State have met with the Sooners holding a 1-0 edge. The two teams played March 20, 1939, in the inaugural NCAA Men’s Championships with Oklahoma posting a 50-39 win. The game was played at the California Coliseum in San Francisco. In the game, Floyd Morris of Utah State led all scorers with 15 points while Garnett Corbin and Jimmy McNatt each scored 12 points for Oklahoma.

The Big 12 Conference will be seeking its second straight Myrtle Beach Invitational title after Baylor captured the 2019 crown by defeating Villanova 87-78 in the finale. Overall, the Big 12 has posted a 7-1 record in the Myrtle Beach Invitational as West Virginia placed third in the inaugural event with a 2-1 record. Utah State is the first Mountain West Conference team to play in the Myrtle Beach Invitational.

The last in-season, eight-school bracketed tournament title for Oklahoma was achieved at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu (December 22, 23 and 25, 2015) when the Sooners defeated Washington State (88-60), Hawai’i (84-81) and Harvard (83-71). A year earlier at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, the Sooners defeated UCLA (75-65) and Butler (59-46) before losing to Wisconsin (56-69) in the finals.

For Utah State, the Aggies last won an eight-school, three-day bracketed tournament in 2006 at the Top of the World Classic in Anchorage (November 17-19) by defeating Centenary (77-71), Drake (92-74) and Weber State (68-55). Utah State also captured a pair of in-season, eight-school bracket events in Oklahoma City in late December at the All-College Tournament in 1959 and 1970. In 1959, Utah State defeated Niagara (75-65), Wichita State (75-68) and host Oklahoma City (75-59). In 1970, the Aggies defeated Bowling Green (65-62), Wichita State (84-78) and LSU (97-81).