Sooner Defense Shines in Win Over the Alcorn State Braves

NORMAN — Oklahoma's (4-2) Sunday afternoon affair with Alcorn State had a little bit of everything the 2025-26 Sooners have shown so far.

OU's shaky perimeter defense and inefficiency in the paint? That showed itself at times. Poor free throw shooting by the Sooners? That too. A tenacious Sooner defense that forces turnover after turnover? Thankfully, that was present.

Porter Moser may not be happy with segments of the OU defense, but he will no doubt be happy from pesky Sooner hands causing turnovers.

"Coming back from Nebraska, obviously the focus has been defensively," Moser said following the win. "I watched that team score 81 points the other night on LSU and I know they had some firepower offensively. The emphasis this last week was defense, I thought we have for three of the four halves."

OU rode its defense to victory, defeating Alcorn State 72-53.

Nijel Pack led the day in scoring with 17 points on 5-17 shooting. Moser pointed out Pack's last four game stretch — 20-made three's.

Forcing Turnovers and Valuing the Basketball

By far the most compelling stat for the Sooners was the turnover discrepancy.

The final tally was 18-6 in favor of Oklahoma. OU's poor shooting first half, coupled with their shaky perimeter defense (more on that later) was never able to get out of reach. Alcorn State's leads were three-to-four points in the first half due to the Sooners forcing turnovers and not turning it over themselves.

Oklahoma's defense stepped it up in the second half when they forced forced a four-minute scoring drought, along with a few forced turnovers. That sequence helped pushed the Sooner lead to double digits and ultimately for good.

The Braves didn't crack 10 points in the second half until the 7:09 mark.

"We knew they could make shots," Moser said. "We watched them at LSU, they scored 81. We guarded possession by possession in the second half and kept them to 20 points in the second half, I think it was a good effort."

The Sooners scored 17 points off of Alcorn State turnovers.

Three-Point Defense Still Shaky

The Braves didn't take a lot of threes, but they were efficient.

Oklahoma's defense spent much of the first half being sucked into the paint by Alcorn State's driving guards, only for the ball handler to kick it out to open shooters with the Sooners unable to regain ground. Alcorn State lived around 50% from deep through the entire first half.

The Sooners lack of perimeter defense was made worse by their inefficient afternoon from distance. OU attempted more threes but never found rhythm — they finished 5-15 from three in the first half. Nijel Pack was the leading three-point man, although inefficient per his standards, hitting five of his 12 attempts in the game. — he finished with 17 points.

Even when OU defended well for a possession or two, breakdowns on subsequent trips (late closeouts, transition threes) allowed the Braves to regain momentum.

In the second half, it was a much different story with Oklahoma putting the clamps down defensively. With a better defensive performance from the perimeter in the first half, OU could have avoided the need for a late run.

"I think they were 6 of 12 from 3-point in the first half. In the second half, they were 2 of 6," Moser said. "They were 8 of 18. You know, 6 of 12 – that’s 18 points on 12 shots."

More Oklahoma Basketball

The Charity Stripe

OU had multiple chances to undo Alcorn State's mid-first half run with free throws.

The Braves controlled much of the first half until a late Sooner-rally helped OU regain the lead. Oklahoma led 35-33 at half, but they are going to kick themselves watching film remembering they had 14 attempts at the free thow line and only knocked down eight of them.

Oklahoma has struggled from the foul line this year. In their win against Oral Roberts last Thursday, the Sooners shot 69% from the free throw line. It didn't matter that evening, but there's no doubt this team will need to be better from the charity stripe when scoring droughts rear their ugly head.

"We left some on the table, missed back-to-back front end of one-and-ones," Moser said.

In the second half it was a different story. OU valued their trips to the free throw line much more, shooting 11-14. Hitting free throws accented the improved defensive performance in the second half.