Oklahoma took control of its ACC/SEC Challenge game against Wake Forest in the second half on Tuesday night, outscoring the Demon Deacons 49-33 on 62% shooting to pull away for an 86-68 victory.
Tuesday night's contest in Winston Salem, North Carolina, was the first-ever meeting in basketball between the two teams.
Tae Davis and Derrion Reid led the way for the Sooners, scoring 18 points each, while four other OU players scored in double digits. Oklahoma finished the game hitting 11 of its last 14 shots from the field. Meanwhile, Wake Forest couldn't buy a bucket over the final 15 minutes of the game, hitting just 5 of 20 field-goal attempts.
The game was close with the lead going back and forth multiple times in the opening 20 minutes. Oklahoma took a 37-35 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Sooners extended the halftime margin to 46-40 early in the second half, but Wake Forest followed with a 7-1 run to tie the score at 47. From there, however, OU mounted a 35-12 run of its own to put the game away. Davis was a big part of the Sooners' second-half splurge, scoring 13 of his 18 points in the second stanza.
Juke Harris of Wake Forest was the game's high scorer with 22 points.
Oklahoma recorded its fourth consecutive win and improved to 6-2 on the season. The Sooner win snapped a three-game win streak by Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons' third loss of the season to go with six wins. Wake Forest's previous two losses were by a single point each to No. 6 Michigan (85-84) and No. 15 Texas Tech (84-83).
OU is now 2-0 in ACC/SEC Challenge games. The Sooners defeated Georgia Tech 76-61 last season in Norman.
The Sooners are midway through a four-game stretch against power conference teams. Next up is a game at Arizona State on Saturday followed by Bedlam with Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City a week from Saturday.
Three takeaways from OU's ACC/SEC Challenge win over Wake Forest
Sooners take advantage of Wake Forest's sloppy ball handling
Oklahoma entered the game ranked No. 12 out of 361 teams in the country, committing just 9.1 turnovers per game. The Sooners committed eight turnovers in the first half against Wake Forest and a dozen for the game. Wake Forest also had 12 turnovers in the game. The difference was the Sooners scored 14 points off of Wake Forest ball-handling errors, but the Demon Deacons cashed in just five points off of OU turnovers.
Oklahoma features balanced offensive attack
Besides the 18 points by Notre Dame transfer Tae Davis and Alabama transfer Derrion Reid, three other starters reached double figures. Nijel Pack had 13 points, and Mohamed Wague and Xzayvier Brown, who played the last two seasons at St. Joseph's, each contributed 11 points. Jadon Jones added 11 points off the bench.
Sooners dominate the glass at both ends
Oklahoma controlled the boards in the game, pulling down 42 rebounds to just 24 by Wake Forest, with the Sooners' Mohamed Wague logging a career-high 14. The Sooners out-rebounded the Demon Deacons 32-15 on the defensive end.