Handing out game balls for the Oklahoma Sooners in the 79-72 win

After the Oklahoma Sooners took care of business at Lloyd Noble Center, we hand game balls to the best performers of the day. OU won 79-72.

The No. 9 ranked Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team returned to the court on Saturday. Lon Kruger’s team won’t take the floor again until next Saturday when they travel to Morgantown to take on the No. 17 West Virginia Mountaineers. Their game against Baylor was postponed due to the Bears halting basketball operations due to coronavirus protocols.

After taking time to digest the events of the early afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center, Sooners Wire hands out game balls for the best performances on the court.

Game Ball 1: Brady Manek

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Minutes Points Rebounds Assists +/-
32 9 15 4 +21

Brady Manek returned to the starting five against the Cyclones for the first time since returning from COVID-19 protocols. “Prairie Bird” has been coming off the bench for Lon Kruger since his return. Manek was huge on the floor in this game but not for his scoring. He was creating for his teammates from the post and collected a career-high 15 rebounds in the game. His teammate Austin Reaves found him on the pick and roll for a huge bucket on the alley-oop. Manek posted the best “+/-” of any Sooner on Saturday.

Game Ball 2: Austin Reaves

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Minutes Points Rebounds Assists +/-
35 16 8 8 +18

The Sooners welcomed back Austin Reaves for this game. After the team dished out a whopping three assists against Texas Tech, Reaves fixed that issue quickly. He even challenged a triple-double in the game needing just two more rebounds and two assists. His ability to facilitate throughout the game helped Oklahoma close it out against Iowa State.

Game Ball 3: Elijah Harkless

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Minutes Points Rebounds Assists +/-
32 19 6 0 -3

There was no Sooner bigger than Elijah Harkless as Oklahoma tried to close out the game. Harkless was responsible for nine of the Sooners’ final 11 points. He was a huge part of the closeout as OU won their seventh conference game of the season. Harkless set a Sooners career-high on the afternoon with those 19 points to lead all Oklahoma players.

Bonus Game Ball: Umoja Gibson

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Minutes Points Rebounds Steals +/-
38 18 5 1 +10

Typically we would hand out just three game balls after the game but Umoja Gibson was deadly from outside the arc. He would hit four of his nine shots from three-point land. Not to mention he created one breakaway bucket off a steal. When Gibson gets hot, it is best to get him the ball and let him fire away.

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