Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma basketball: Three takeaways from OU’s season-opening win

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Tanner Groves (35) gathers the ball between Northwestern State's Larry Owens (32) and LaTerrance Reed (3) during an NCAA college basketball game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Northwestern State at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Oklahoma won 77-59.Ou Vs Northwestern State
Oklahoma's Tanner Groves (35) gathers the ball between Northwestern State's Larry Owens (32) and LaTerrance Reed (3) during an NCAA college basketball game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Northwestern State at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Oklahoma won 77-59.Ou Vs Northwestern State /
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It took a while for the Sooners to get rolling, but once they did it resulted in a 77-59 win over Northwestern (Oklahoma) State in the 2021-22 season opener and the first in the Porter Moser era of Oklahoma basketball.

Moser, who replaced the retired Lon Kruger after 10 seasons at the helm of Sooner basketball, said in his postgame comments that he thought his team did a lot of good things, but there were also a lot of teaching moments, something perhaps to be expected from a team with nine newcomers in its first game of the season.

The Sooners are back in action Friday night hosting the University of Texas-San Antonio. Game time is 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center.

Jalen Hill’s expanded role this season

Porter Moser said all offseason he wanted 6-foot, 6-inch Jalen Hill to take on an expanded role this season. The junior forward was relatively quiet in the first half against Northwestern State, but he scored 12 of his 15 total points in the second half, including six during a 15-1 run by the Sooners right after halftime.

Hill contribution to the OU win, however, was more than just in the scoring column, He was six of seven in field-goal attempts, including two of three on three-balls, grabbed eight rebounds and was credited with three assists, three steals and a blocked shot — the very definition of a complete game.

This game it was Tanner who showed out for the Groves brothers

Tanner and Jacob Groves are two of the six newcomers who came to Oklahoma last offseason via the transfer portal. The brothers transferred from Eastern Washington. College basketball fans might recall that the Grove brothers combined for 58 of Eastern Washington’s 84 points in a 93-84 loss to No.-3 seeded Kansas in the opening round of last season’s NCAA Tournament.

In Oklahoma’s exhibition victory over Rogers State a week ago, Jacob led all scorers in the game with 20 points. He made all seven of his field-goal attempts and was a perfect six-for-six from three-point range.

In the official season-opener on Tuesday night, however, it was brother Tanner who stood out. The older Groves brother, a 6-foot, 10-inch senior contributed 15 points, tying Jalen Hill as the leading scorer for OU, and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Early second-half explosion puts the game away

Leading by just three points, 28-25 after the first 20 minutes, Oklahoma kicked it into another gear in the second half. The Sooners opened up on a 15-1 run after intermission to open up a 43-28 advantage five minutes into the second stanza. Five minutes later, OU went on 10-0 run to go up by 21 and effectively put the game out of reach.

The Sooners shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and were 5 of 10 from three-point range. They finished shooting 55 percent for the game.

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