Oklahoma vs. Albany: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2015

The No. 3 seed has been a bit of a poisoned chalice in the 2015 NCAA tournament with the Iowa State Cyclones and Baylor Bears falling in the second round Thursday.

The Oklahoma Sooners ensured that the same fate didn't befall them Friday. They earned a hard-fought 69-60 victory over the Albany Great Danes.

Heading into the game, OU head coach Lon Kruger spoke about how Albany's overall balance would present a difficult hurdle to scale for his team.

"They’re real solid defensively," he said, per Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman. "They really execute things offensively. They’ll run the clock if they need to. They have three guys in double-digit shooting."

The Great Danes were a tricky foe for the Sooners, who struggled to build a lead any bigger than 10 or 12 points.

Although the final score didn't illustrate a vast gulf between the two teams, Oklahoma was never in any grave danger of getting beaten. 

Albany never led, and the final sequence of the first half served as a microcosm for the game as a whole.

Ray Sanders nailed a three-pointer with four seconds to go until halftime to put the Great Danes down seven points, 35-28. That bucket could've given Albany some much-needed energy as it entered the locker room.

On the ensuing inbound, though, Jordan Woodard ran the length of the court for Oklahoma and hit a right-handed layup at the buzzer. The Sooners went ahead by nine, 37-28, and wrested the momentum away from Albany.

Pete Iorizzo of the Albany Times Union wondered how the Great Danes allowed Woodard to weave his way all the way up the floor:

Paul Vernon/Associated Press

It was a big shot, but it only underscored Albany's inability to handle Oklahoma in the paint. Jeff Wallner noted how the Sooners used their advantage on the inside through the first 20 minutes:

TaShawn Thomas was particularly impressive, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in the first half. The Albany Times Union's Tim Wilkin felt Thomas presented major matchup problems for the Great Danes all night:

Peter Hooley did his best to keep Albany in the game. He paced the Great Danes with 12 points and four rebounds.

Hooley's strong performance was a welcome development for his sister and father, who watched the game from home in Adelaide, Australia, per the America East Conference:

The second half unfolded much as the first did. Oklahoma often enjoyed a comfortable buffer but couldn't deliver the knockout blow.

John Shinn of The Norman Transcript questioned why the Sooners didn't get the ball to Thomas on nearly every possession:

But while Albany remained within striking distance, the Great Danes couldn't find the kind of sustained run that would get them into the lead.

They cut the deficit to as little as six points, 60-54, with four minutes remaining, but Oklahoma responded on the next possession with a three-pointer from Isaiah Cousins as the shot clock wound down:

It was the kind of shot that epitomized the futility of Albany's comeback attempts. Every time the Great Danes took one or two steps forward, the Sooners did just enough to knock them back to square one.

You wouldn't call it the perfect performance by Oklahoma, but the No. 3 seed never allowed Albany to build the kind of confidence that could've led to an upset.

Thomas led the way with 18 points. Buddy Hield provided the perimeter scoring with 15 points. His three three-pointers accounted for nearly half of the team's overall output.

The Sooners did a good job of locking down on Hooley and Sam Rowley, who combined to shoot 10-of-29 from the floor for 27 points.

While the win wasn't the most convincing, it might be good preparation as Kruger gets his players ready mentally for the next round.

Oklahoma will get Providence or Dayton, depending on the result of Friday night's game.

Either way, the Sooners will need to find a killer instinct between now and Sunday. If they let the Friars or Flyers stick around like they allowed Albany to, then they might be looking at a premature exit from the Big Dance.