Oklahoma Rolls UT Arlington

NORMAN — Oklahoma avoided a letdown.

The first time the Sooners knocked off a ranked opponent this season, they followed it up with a head-scratching home loss to the Butler Bulldogs.

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Now coming off a dominant performance against the then-No. 12 Arkansas Razorbacks, OU showed no signs of slowing down.

Again powered by a smothering defensive display, the Sooners breezed past the UT Arlington Mavericks 70-50 on Sunday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Setting the tone early, Oklahoma held UT Arlington scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game, holding the Mavericks to just 33 percent shooting from the floor for the duration of the contest.

“Every team has its identity,” OU head coach Porter Moser said after the game. “I think these guys, especially the first group, their identity right now is they’re really ready to start the game defending. I think that’s really been helping us.

“We’ve got to get deeper defensively. We’ve got to get deeper offensively. When we start making some subs, we can’t have the defense go down. That’s something that we’ve really got to focus in on.”

On the other end of the floor, it was Umoja Gibson’s turn to lead the way offensively for Oklahoma.

The Sooner sharpshooter started the game hot from beyond the arc, and carried his nice start throughout the game.

Gibson led the way with 14 points, knocking down 4-of-8 his 3-point attempts on the afternoon.

But on Sunday Gibson continued his growth as an all-around player under Moser, as he pulled down eight rebounds, doubling his output from his last outing against Arkansas.

After the Butler loss, Moser said he challenged Gibson to attack the boards more aggressively, and he was impressed with how the veteran guard responded.

“Sometimes you can coach a really good player hard and try to tell them the truth and they don't believe it,” Moser said. “Even if he didn't believe it, he went out and tried to prove that he's a better defender, better rebounder, more all-around player and man, he's done a lot of different things.

“He's done his best couple of defensive games the last couple of games, his best rebounding games and he's been more of a complete player. And that's a credit to him and his character.”

Gibson said he was happy to put in the extra effort, as it’s one of the things he can do as a guard to help the team become more dangerous as a whole.

“Coach preached to us all in practice, even before the Arkansas game, he wants the guards to rebound down,” Gibson said after the game. “We more contagious that way.

“… When the guards get the ball we can push it in transition and put the pressure on the defense. We better when the guards help rebound down with the bigs.”

In the end, Gibson finished just two rebounds short of his first career double-double, something he said he knew he was closing in on, but didn’t want to force.

“Oh I was aware of it, but I wasn’t chasing it,” Gibson said. “… It would have been good to have the double-double for the first of my career, but I wasn’t chasing it. There’s more games down the line.”

Tanner Groves and Jalen Hill also scored double figures in support of Gibson, with Groves adding 13 points, six rebounds and two assists, and Hill contributing 12 points, four rebounds and an assist.

As a whole, the Sooners had an efficient shooting day against the Mavericks, finishing shooting 55 percent from the floor while dishing out 19 assists as a team.

The Sooners have one more contest before opening Big 12 play on New Year’s Day. OU will return home on Wednesday to host Alcorn State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on SoonerSports.TV.

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