Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from that elusive first win of season

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma Sooners forward Jalen Hill (1) and Missouri State Bears forward Gaige Prim (44) reach for the ball during an NIT basketball game between at the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Missouri State Bears at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Oklahoma won 89-72.Ou Nit Basketball
Oklahoma Sooners forward Jalen Hill (1) and Missouri State Bears forward Gaige Prim (44) reach for the ball during an NIT basketball game between at the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Missouri State Bears at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Oklahoma won 89-72.Ou Nit Basketball /
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With the bitterness of a season-opening loss fresh on their minds, men’s Oklahoma basketball held off Arkansas-Pine Bluff down the stretch to post a 66-58 win at Lloyd Noble Center on Friday.

The Sooners led by a slim two-point margin, 58-56, with just under three minutes remaining in the game — a grim reminder of the situation they found themselves in the loss to Sam Houston State on Monday — but this night, it was Oklahoma that stepped it up in crunch time.

OU outscored the Golden Lions 8-2 in the final 150 seconds to close out the win and even its record at 1-1 to open the 2022-2023 season.

"“Made some winning plays,” said head coach Porter Moser in his postgame press conference. “Even though we had turnovers, we executed down the stretch and got some stops.”"

Senior forward Jalen Hill rebounded from a scoreless game in 32 minutes of action Monday night to lead the Sooners with a game-high 22 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield added 16 points for OU after failing to score in the opening half.

Sooner super senior Tanner Groves tallied just seven points but was a monster on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds.

Oklahoma is now 3-0 in games with UAPB, a team that earlier this week came within one point of upsetting 14th-ranked TCU.

Unlike in the loss Monday night, the Sooners attacked the rim, scoring 34 points in the paint compared with just 16 in the season opener.

OU led for virtually the entire game but never by more than eight points, which didn’t occur until the 5:52 mark of the second half.

It was a good win for the Sooner men, who are back in action Tuesday night at the LNC against UNC Wilmington.

Three takeaways from the Sooners’ first win of the season:

Jalen Hill made up for lost time in season opener

Jalen Hill, one of two returning starters from last year’s OU men’s team, failed to score a single point in Monday’s season opener against Sam Houston State, but he made up for it and then some by being the main man on Friday with a 22-point performance. Hill made 8 of 10 shots from the field and was 6 of 7 on the free-throw line on his way to a career high. His previous best performance came last year with 18 points in a win over Florida.

Sooners found bottom of the basket with greater consistency in Game 2

The Sooners rebounded from a 37 percent shooting night against Sam Houston State in the season opener to shoot 47 percent it their win over UAPB. Their three-point shooting continues to suffer, however. OU was 3 of 14 from three-point territory on Friday for 21.4 percent. That followed a 26.3 percent game on the three-ball against Sam Houston.

Better job taking care of the ball

Oklahoma committed 21 turnovers against Sam Houston. The Sooners’ ball handling was much improved in Game 2, cutting down the turnover number to 13, resulting in 13 points. OU averaged 14 turnovers a game last season.

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