Oklahoma Stymies LSU’s Offense En Route to Comfortable Win

For the second time this week, the Sooners defeated the Tigers.

Oklahoma beat LSU 83-67 in Baton Rouge on Saturday for its second win in a row. The victory follows OU’s 91-79 home win against Auburn on Tuesday, and the Sooners have won four of their last six games after starting their conference slate 1-9.

OU is 15-14 overall and 5-11 in SEC play after the win, while LSU dropped to 15-14, 3-13.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Sooners hold LSU’s offense in check

Throughout Saturday’s game, Oklahoma prevented the Tigers from ever finding an offensive rhythm.

LSU shot 34.9 percent from the floor and 26.1 percent on 3-pointers. The Tigers’ leading scorer, Max Mackinnon, logged 17 points but did so on an inefficient 6-of-20 clip. LSU also turned the ball over 10 times and scored only five fast-break points.

Oklahoma’s offense was far more efficient. The Sooners ended the game shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from deep.

Nijel Pack recorded a team-high 21 points. A transfer guard, Pack made five of his 11 3-point attempts and also tallied four assists and two rebounds.

Three other Sooners — Xzayvier Brown, Dayton Forsythe and Mohamed Wague — finished in double figures.

Forsythe logs valuable minutes off bench

Once again, Forsythe was a valuable contributor after starting the game on the bench.

The sophomore guard from Dale, OK, finished the game with 13 points. Of his 13, six came from the free throw line, and he did not miss any free throw attempts.

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In addition to his scoring numbers, Forsythe registered one assist and a 3 pointer.

Forsythe came into the LSU game averaging 5.5 points, 1.8 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. He had played more than 20 minutes in each of OU's previous six games before playing only 17 minutes on Saturday.

One week left

Oklahoma will host Missouri on Tuesday before finishing the regular season on the road against Texas on Saturday.

Both of the Sooners’ final two regular-season foes currently sit on the NCAA Tournament bubble, though both won on Saturday. OU already played spoiler on Tuesday, defeating an Auburn squad that also sits on the bubble.

After the Auburn game, OU coach Porter Moser said he believes that the Sooners still have a path to the NCAA Tournament, though he admitted that the said path is “urgent.”

Oklahoma entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 66 in the NET rankings, and even if the Sooners won their last two regular-season games and a couple games at the SEC Tournament, it seems unlikely that they will earn an at-large bid to the Big Dance.