Newcomer Javian McCollum scored a team-high 19 points and sophomore returnee Otega Oweh contributed 18 as men’s Oklahoma basketball opened the 2023-24 season with an 89-59 win over Central Michigan at Lloyd Noble Center.
The Sooners opened the season with six transfers and six holdovers from the 2022-23 roster. McCollum is one of the newcomers, a transfer from Siena. John Hugely IV, a transfer from Pittsburgh, contributed 10 points and five rebounds coming off the bench in is OU debut.
Anthony Pritchard and Cayden Vasko scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Central Michigan.
In all, 12 players saw action for the Sooners, and eight of those were making their debut in an Oklahoma uniform.
Oklahoma started fast and built up a 40-21 advantage at halftime on close to 60 percent shooting and 50 percent from three-point range. OU kept up the hot hand offensive in the second half, shooting 53.6 percent from the field.
All of the Sooner starters scored at least five points, and all but one of the dozen Sooners who entered the game scored.
Earlier in the day, the No. 23-ranked OU women dispensed with Wichita State 92-68 in their season home opener.
Three takeaways from OU’s season-opening win:
Small sample size, but the new-look Sooners appear to be gelling nicely
For the third time in as many seasons, Oklahoma is beginning the new season with a host of transfers.
Bench players contribute 32 points to the Sooners’ cause
Oklahoma’s reserves contributed 32 points, led by John Hugely’s 10 points. Three other Sooners added five points apiece.
Defense creating offense
One of the things head coach Porter Moser wants to see more of this season is creating offense from solid defense. On Mondy, The Sooners scored 20 points off of 17 Central Michigan turnovers.