Sooners pull away from Houston Baptist
NORMAN — Through the first 30 minutes, Oklahoma’s final home game before conference play did not feel like the tune-up many were expecting.
The Sooners held just a three-point lead heading into the halftime break against Ron Cottrell’s one-win Huskies of Houston Baptist. It looked like this one might go down to the wire.
But with a four-point lead and just over 10 minutes to play, Lon Kruger’s team flipped a switch.
Elijah Harkless
Pool photo / Austin Carriere
Oklahoma erupted to outscore HBU 26-11 in the closing minutes of the game and pull away to an 84-65 victory at Lloyd Noble Center.
Sparked by a stellar defense that has become a staple of this team, OU’s harassing effort led to eight straight misses by the Huskies and opened up numerous quick scoring opportunities for the Sooners.
One of those options was sophomore Victor Iwuakor, who spent most of the second half airborne, blocking shots and throwing down dunks. The big man from Nigeria scored eight of his 12 points on a 14-0 run that helped seal the win for the Sooners.
“Coach always expects me to bring energy whenever I come on the court so I try to do that every time,” Iwuakor said. “Obviously we didn’t do that in the first half, but we knew we had to get back and bring that energy during the second half and we were able to do that.”
The additional scoring in the paint was a welcome addition as OU struggled from the 3-point line, shooting just 21.7 percent as a team, including 2-of-9 combined between scoring leaders Austin Reaves and Brady Manek.
Kruger’s team adjusted to the rocky shooting performance by attacking the lane and finding high-percentage shots at the rim. When it was all said and done, the Sooners shot nearly 50 percent for the game.
“It’s great to have that versatility and that depth to put people in the ball games and know they’re going to make good plays,” Kruger said. “We got it going a little bit there in the second half, we got some things in transition and a lot of that was keyed by some activity on the defensive end.”
This game brings the Sooners non-conference schedule to a close with a perfect 4-0 record at home. They’ll now prepare for the gauntlet that awaits them at the start of Big 12 Conference play.
Oklahoma will play its first of four straight games against top-15 ranked opponents when the Sooners take on 14th-ranked Texas Tech. That game tips off at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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