Oklahoma Rebounds With Emphatic Victory Over No. 12 Arkansas
TULSA — For the second time in December, the Oklahoma Sooners have knocked a ranked opponent off their perch.
Traveling 126 miles up the Turner Turnpike, Porter Moser’s Sooners trounced the No. 12-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks 88-66 at the BOK Center.
The victory moved the Sooners to 8-2, while the Razorbacks fell to 9-1 in their first defeat of the year.
After the game, Moser said he was proud of his team’s response in this game coming off a loss, especially considering the unique atmosphere in Tulsa.
“I thought it was an NCAA Tournament-type atmosphere,” Moser said. “Even when our bus pulled up, to see both fan bases out there and see cheerleaders, bands when you walked into the arena. To see a mixed crowd of both fans bases, passionate and yelling for their team, I thought it had an NCAA Tournament feel.
“I’m happy for our guys with how they bounced back from the other night. I thought we really did a lot of good things to put ourselves in position to win the game.”
A pair of hot starts to begin each half proved to be the difference for the Sooners.
OU opened the game on a 13-0 run, draining three straight triples to get Oklahoma off to a blistering start from beyond the arc.
Elijah Harkless said the quick start was huge for the Sooners, especially because it helped suck the air out of the Arkansas portion of the crowd.
“It was big,” Harkless said after the game. “They came out chirping with their with their signs that "woo pig" or whatever it is. They were trying to get us out of our game, and I think it was big of us to show our maturity and not let that affect us.”
Arkansas responded to the early hole, battling back to cut the Sooner lead to six points entering halftime, but again OU distanced themselves.
Oklahoma opened the second half on another run, this time an 11-2 streak, to give themselves some more breathing room.
Moser said the big difference to start each half was a great show of effort both on the defensive end of the floor, but also by attacking the boards.
“I thought it started with our defense,” Moser said. “Obviously making some shots and executing some things that we wanted to do, that was a big part of it. Rebounding, we just have a ton of respect for how they rebound the ball.
“We got out-rebounded the last game against Butler and we had a tough 72 hours talking about what we needed to do to beat Arkansas and it started with rebounding… We set the tone.”
But just like their last outing against Butler, the Sooner shooters went ice cold in the middle of the second half, opening the door for an Arkansas rally.
The Razorbacks held the Sooners scoreless for over four minutes, cutting the Sooner lead back to just five with a 9-0 run of their own.
Once again under pressure to close out the game, OU’s defense stood tall inside the BOK Center.
Holding the Razorbacks scoreless for over five and a half minutes down the stretch, the Sooners put the game away with an 17-0 run, finally playing mature basketball with a late lead.
“Over and over we responded, time and time again,” Moser said. “I will tell you this. The last time we responded, we had some subs in there. Bijan Cortes made some nice passes, Ethan Chargois made a couple of nice plays.
“… Jordan Goldwire had his best floor game for us so far this year. I think he really controlled a lot of tempo. He got guys shots. I thought he played through fatigue better than he’s done all year. I thought he was good.”
And while no clear go-to guy emerged down the stretch, Oklahoma’s offense got contributions from six different Sooners in the final 10 minutes to close out the emphatic victory.
“I think as the games go on, I think we're kind of getting more comfortable with (our roles),” Harkless said. “At the beginning of the season, we kind of didn't know and that's on us. But you know as kind of games get more serious, the guys just want to win. You just kind of take more pride in your role and try to be the best you can that night at your role and I think we did that tonight.”
Harkless led the way with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, followed by Tanner Groves with 16 points and Goldwire with 12 points.
Umoja Gibson added 12 points and Jalen Hill finished with 11 points to round out the balanced OU attack.
In all, the Sooners knocked down 13-of-22 3’s, setting a season high of makes from beyond the 3-point line.
Oklahoma will now get more than a week off before returning home for their next contest.
The Sooners will host UT Arlington on Dec. 19, with tip-off from the Lloyd Noble Center scheduled for 2 pm.
Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!
Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!
Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.
