After reeling off 13 consecutive wins to begin the season, the12th-ranked Oklahoma men's basketball team discovered in brutal fashion what life is going to be like in the SEC as Alabama jumped all over the visiting Sooners, delivering a crushing 107-79 knockout in a battle of top-15 teams on Saturday.
From the outset, the seemingly overmatched Sooners were never in this game. The Sooners (13-1) landed the first punch, taking a brief 2-0 lead, but Alabama (12-2) scored the next four points and never trailed after that. The Crimson Tide torched Oklahoma for nearly 50 points in the first half and was even more productive in the second half, scoring 59 points on 55% shooting.
The 107 points by Alabama marks the fourth time this season and the second time in as many games that Bama has reached 100 points, and the 28-point winning margin was the largest over a ranked opponent since the 2004-05 season. The loss was the worst suffered by an Oklahoma men's team since February 2023, when the Sooners suffered a 93-61 loss at West Virginia.
The Sooners were unable to match Alabama's energy and depth. Thirty-eight of the Crimson Tide's points were contributed by players off the bench. Oklahoma got only five points from its reserves.
SEC Preseason Player of the Year Mark Sears scored a game-high 22 points for the Crimson Tide and in the process eclipsed the 1,500-point milestone in career scoring. Jalon Moore led Oklahoma with 20 points.
"We're gonna be in a lot of these," OU coach Porter Moser said in the postgame interview session. "We're gonna be in these every single night. Everybody in this league is gonna get punched. You gotta take a punch and know why you lost that round."
The Sooners are going to need to get over the Alabama loss, learn from it and regroup quickly because they get another top-15 opponent on Wednesday when 13th-ranked Texas A&M comes to Norman. The Aggies easily disposed of old rival Texas on Saturday, winning by 20 points, 80-60, after being tied at halftime.
Here are three key takeaways that tell the story of Saturday's game:
1. OU's light nonconference schedule exposed in SEC opener
The Sooners' conference opener at Alabama was their first true road contest of the season, and it just so happened to be in one of the more hostile venues in the SEC.
Oklahoma's nonconference schedule featured just two ranked opponents (No. 24 Arizona and No. 24 Michigan) and neither of those teams is currently ranked. Alabama is the first quality opponent OU has faced and was able to expose the Sooners' deficiencies.
2. Bama gets too many second- and third-chance scoring opportunities
Alabama hammered Oklahoma on the boards, and it wasn't even close.
The Crimson Tide out-energized and was more physical in outrebounding the Sooners by a sizeable margin, 51-26, and 22 Bama offensive rebounds created too many second and third scoring opportunities.
Ultimately, those offensive boards led to 25 Alabama points. The Crimson Tide had 14 more offensive rebounds than OU (22-8). Three Alabama players recorded seven or more rebounds in the game. Only one Sooner had that many (Jalon Moore with seven).
3. Sooners shoot better in second half, but couldn't overcome huge deficit
OU trailed by six points, 21-15, midway through the first half. Over the final 10 minutes, Alabama outscored the Sooners 27-14, opening up a 48-29 halftime advantage. Oklahoma shot just 35% (12 of 34) in the opening 20 minutes. The Sooners shot much better in the second half (60.6%) and scored 50 points, but Alabama also shot better in the second stanza and tallied 59, extending the victory margin to 28 points.