Oklahoma basketball: Sooners hold on at end to edge Mississippi State
By Chip Rouse
Brady Manek scored a game-high 18 points and Kristian Doolittle added eight rebounds along with four assists as Oklahoma basketball picked up a big nonconference win over Mississippi State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
The Sooners trailed for only 23 seconds in the entire game but had to hold on for dear life late to record a 63-62 victory and their first win in four tries against Mississippi State. The game was played at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, a neutral venue although just 20 minutes from the OU campus in Norman.
Junior guard Alondes Williams contributed a career-high 13 points off the bench for Oklahoma and sparked a second-half Sooner run with a made three-ball and a steal and a breakaway dunk after Mississippi State had come from eight points down to tie the score at 38.
Oklahoma opened up a 15-point lead in the opening half and led 38-30 at the break, but the Bulldogs began the second half with an 8-0 run, and the game remained close from that point forward, as was the expectation even before the opening tip.
Mississippi State’s leading scorer on the season, Reggie Perry got into foul trouble early and saw just 21 minutes of action. He finished the game with seven points, a season low. Robert Woodard II and Tyson Carter picked up the slack in Perry’s absence, totaling 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Oklahoma shot 38.7 percent for the game and is now 11-1 this season when it shoots a better percentage than its opponent.
The Sooners improve to 13-6 for the season. Mississippi State’s season record falls to 12-7. OU returns to Big 12 action on Wednesday with an away game at Kansas State. The Sooners won the earlier game over OU head coach Lon Kruger’s alma mater, 63-60, in Norman.
Here are a few more noteworthy numbers that help tell the story of Oklahoma’s win over Mississippi State:
1 — Mississippi State’s biggest lead in the game was one point, 58-57, with 4:15 remaining in the game.
7 — Oklahoma averages 11.9 turnovers per game. On Saturday versus Mississippi State, the Sooners committed just seven.
10 — Mississippi State’s rebounding advantage over Oklahoma. The Sooners have outrebounded just seven of its 19 opponents this season.
10 – Austin Reaves was 0 for 4 on three-point tries against Mississippi State. In his last six games, he has made only 3 of 31 three-point attempts, 10 percent three-point average. His sophomore season at Wichita State, Reaves made 45 percent of this three-point shots.
18 — The Sooners have won 18 straight home games against nonconference foes. OU’s last nonconference home loss was against Florida in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in 2018.
19 — Oklahoma’s bench outscored Mississippi State’s reserves 19-18.
26 — The Sooners managed 26 points in the paint against their taller opponents out of the SEC.
6,442 — Attendance at Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder, for the game.