What we learned from Oklahoma's 73-57 win over Northwestern State

The Oklahoma men registered win number two on the season with a come-from-behind 73-57 win over Northwestern State on Monday.

The Sooners trailed by six points at halftime, 34-28 and were down by eight early in the second half before taking charge and finishing out the final 11 minutes on a 27-14 run to put away the victory over the visitors from the Southland Conference.

Senior Jalon Moore led the way for Oklahoma with a game- and career-high 23 points, and true freshman Jeremiah Fears added 15 coming off the bench. Nineteen of Moore's 23 points came in the second half. Dayton transfer Kobe Elvis contributed 10 points and senior Sam Godwin scored eight points along with pulling down 10 rebounds.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Northwestern State junior guard Micah Thomas, who scored 20 points to lead the Demons. Thomas is a native of Oklahoma City and played his high school ball at Putnam City North High School.

Oklahoma did not shoot as well in this game as in the season-opening win over Lindenwood, especially from behind the arc, but the Sooner shooters were able to find their touch as the game went on. OU shot just 29 percent from three-point range (6 of 21), an area where head coach Porter Moser expects his team to be better this season than last. The Sooners were missing guard Brycen Goodine (ankle) and forward Jayden Jones (back), who are probably the team's best two three-point shooters.

The Sooners are next in action on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center against Stetson.

Three takeaways from OU's win over Northwestern State

• The Sooners started the game slowly against the Demons of Northwestern State, which came into the game ranked No. 314 in the KenPom rankings. That is something OU cannot afford to do against better teams. This game was much closer for much longer than most expected. The Sooners' talent advantage won out in the end, but that may not be the case as the competition ramps up.

• The 2024 Sooner men's team is going to revolve around senior forward Jalon Moore, who has scored 22 and 23 points, respectively, in Oklahoma's first two games. The 6-foot, 7-inch former Georgia Tech transfer had considered declaring for the NBA Draft after last season but ultimately decided to return for one more collegiate season. He averaged 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Sooners last season.

• In each of his now four seasons at Oklahoma, head coach Porter Moser has emphasized creating offense from defense. That message seems to be resonating with this year's team. The Sooners scored 14 points off of turnovers in the season-opening win over Lindenwood, and were able to convert 16 steals into 20 points in Monday night's win against Northwestern State.