Oklahoma jumped out to a 13-0 lead and raced away from No. 10 Arkansas in the game’s final 9:55 from inside the BOK Center in Tulsa after the Razorbacks had made it a one-possession game.
Senior guard Elijah Harkless paved the way for Oklahoma, scoring a team-high 21 points, including eight in the first four minutes and change. Then, after Arkansas made it a one-score game at 57-54, OU finished the game with a flurry to win going away 88-66.
Arkansas is undefeated no more❗ @OU_MBBall takes it by 22. pic.twitter.com/Q1Y5RnAgCa
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 11, 2021
The Sooners bounced back emphatically from the loss earlier in the week to Butler where OU saw a 13-point lead evaporate.
“You know, I thought it started with our defense and obviously making some shots, but, you know, executing some things we wanted to do. I think that was a big part of it. Rebounding. We have a ton of respect for how they rebound the ball and we got outrebounded the last game against Butler and really had a tough 72 hours talking about what we needed to do to beat Arkansas and it started with rebounding. I thought we set the tone. We really challenged the guards for some rebounding. Elijah had 11, Jalen had eight. Even Mo had three in the first half. We just said we needed all hands on deck to rebound against an elite rebounding team. I think the guys came out from the jump with an edge and it came into the game. Sometimes you can come out with an edge and then you don’t transform it into the game and I thought our guys did for 40 minutes,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said.
Moser said he felt the 3-pointer that Harkless hit against Butler to force overtime carried over into this game against Arkansas.
“What I loved that I’m really seeing is he hit that shot to go into overtime against Butler and he had been really struggling with his shot. He works his tail off on it. He’s in the gym nonstop. I think he just got his confidence back after that shot. He hit one in overtime. He hit some tonight. I think he’s got his confidence back. Defending, rebounding, I thought he was excellent,” Moser said of Harkless’ performance against the Hogs.
Harkless has shot just 26 percent from three-point distance thus far this season but he has connected on 4-of-9 3-pointers over the Sooners’ past two games.
“That’s something that I work on a lot. You know, I just kind of didn’t have a good start to the season, but I think opportunities will catch up to me because I put in the work every single day. Just kind of falling for it right now and I hope to continue it and keep showing everybody else that I can really shoot the ball. Coaches believe in me, my teammates believe in me, so I mean it’s kind of on me to believe in myself and make it happen,” Harkless said.
It was the first time Arkansas was held below 70 points in a game this season. Oklahoma held the Razorbacks to just 34 percent field goal shooting overall and just 29 percent from three-point range as Arkansas lost for the first time in its 2021-22 campaign.
The difference in four days time on the glass was stark for OU. After being out rebounded by 13 and surrendering 15 offensive rebounds against Butler, the Sooners bounced back by winning the rebound margin against Arkansas 36-29.
“I think it’s just finishing possessions defensively. I think we did a great job of just defending Butler on the initial kind of actions and shots, the first shot, but they got a lot of second chance opportunities that helped them win that game. I think coach made a big emphasis in practice, you know, coming into this game on just finishing possessions defensively and just rebounding honestly and that’s just something that we did really well tonight,” Harkless said.
All five Oklahoma starters finished with double-figure scoring. Harkless had 21, Tanner Groves scored 16, Jordan Goldwire added 14, Umoja Gibson finished with 12 and Jalen Hill chipped in with 11.
It’s the second top-15 win already for OU. The Sooners beat then-No. 12 Florida last week 74-67.
Oklahoma has two games left before starting Big 12 play on New Year’s Day against Kansas State. Up next, OU plays host to UT Arlington on Dec. 19 at 2 p.m. and then Alcorn State at 7 p.m. on Dec. 22.
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