Oklahoma is currently wrecking their competition. Everything is working for the Sooners.
Saturday was another example of that, moving to 9-0 after roasting the Arkansas Razorbacks 79-70 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., late Saturday afternoon.
Do not be fooled. The nine-point final score is hardly indicative of what took place from the last quarter of the first half onward. Some garbage time baskets shouldn’t take away from how much better Oklahoma looked than Arkansas.
Oklahoma set the tone from the beginning, as their defense set the tone for the entire game in the first half. The Sooners were elite defending the perimeter, holding Arkansas under 30 percent from distance in the first half.
The game went back and forth for much of the first 20 minutes, with no one having more than a five-point lead.
Rivaldo Soares led the way with nine points and four rebounds in the first half. Porter Moser’s club was also quicker and more dominant on the boards, holding a 19-11 edge.
The Sooners did a terrific job guarding Trevon Brazile, Arkansas’ all-SEC caliber player and a potential first-rounder. He was held to zero points. A 14-2 run to end a first half where Oklahoma shot 58 percent from the field and had 26 points that put the Sooners up 12 at halftime.
Oklahoma would come right out of the half and deliver another flurry to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Arkansas’s head coach, Eric Musselman, was ejected around the 15-minute mark after a disagreement with an official. From there, the wheels came off for the Hogs as Oklahoma pushed out to a 19-point lead before assistant coach Keith Smart of Arkansas was forced to call a timeout.
Javian McCollum continued his ascent as one of college basketball’s best players, pouring in 20 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Otega Oweh chipped in 14 points on 6/7 shooting(2/2 from three) from the field.
Razorbacks guard Tramon Mark came into the game as the Hogs’ leading scorer, yet he was held to just 10 points. Khalif Battle, another scoring guard for Arkansas, was just 2/10 from the field and amassed 13 points, with eight coming via the free-throw line.
The Sooners will now focus on a home game versus the Green Bay Phoenix next Saturday.
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