FAYETTEVILLE — It wasn’t pretty, but Oklahoma got the job done. Despite leading by 13 points at one point in the first half and playing well for much of the opening 16 minutes, the Sooners found themselves in another tight battle.
After a rough stretch to start the second half, where Oklahoma went cold and committed seven turnovers, the game was knotted at 62-62 with just 1:20 left.
Out of a sideline inbounds, the Sooners went to Jalon Moore, who drew a foul and hit one of two free throws. Then, after a big defensive stop, Mohamed Wague was called for an offensive foul, giving Arkansas one last chance with 24.7 seconds to go.
The Razorbacks couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. Duke Miles grabbed the rebound, fed it to Moore, who slammed it home, sealing a 65-62 victory for the Sooners, moving them to 15-4 (2-4) on the season.
“We knew they were going to be physical and drive it,” said Porter Moser. “We were all about getting that rebound, making a tough shot, and then going to get it. It’s like how they won the Georgia game—Thiero came and took it and got that offensive rebound. We talked about that in that huddle: ‘We’ve got to get the rebound.’”
— Oklahoma’s three-point shooting was key in the first half. The Sooners hit 7 of 16 from deep (43.8%), taking full advantage of Arkansas’ struggles to defend the perimeter. Glenn Taylor sank two, Luke Northweather added one off the bench, and Jeremiah Fears got in on the action early. Oklahoma’s ability to stretch the floor had the Razorbacks scrambling defensively.
Brycen Goodine shined from behind the arc, scoring 9 points on 3-6 shooting. He was hot in the first half but struggled with foul trouble in the second. “He’s such a threat from three,” said Moser. “Even when he doesn’t get it, you can look at the tape—they’re shading him. So it opens up driving lanes.”
— Arkansas closed the half on a 9-0 run, flipping the momentum heading into the break. OU’s 13-point lead vanished in a hurry, cut to just four as the Razorbacks came alive late. The Sooners controlled most of the game but went ice-cold down the stretch, failing to make a field goal in the final four minutes.
— Halfway through the second half, the Sooners had scored just 9 points in the first 10 minutes. They hadn’t hit a field goal in the last 3:47 and had committed 7 turnovers during the 10-minute span.
— The Sooners leaned heavily on Jalon Moore, who played 37 minutes and finished with 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, along with six rebounds. Moore, Fears, and Miles each logged 30+ minutes in the game.
— Fears finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists on 4-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 1-of-1 from three. He logged 32 minutes and committed just two turnovers. Moser highlighted a key growth moment for Fears in the first half.
“One of the key plays for him in this game came when he got trapped by their bench in the first half. Instead of panicking, he didn’t just throw it away. He stepped through, got it out to Sam, and we ended up with a dunk.
“That was a huge growth play because when you get trapped, sometimes you just ‘hot potato’ it. But he stepped through, made sure he got it out, and when we did, we got a dunk. I thought that was a really big play for him.”
Fears took a hard hit and went down with an apparent leg injury late in the first half, but it didn’t faze him. “He just doesn’t have a lot of fear. He’s not afraid of any moment. I think everyone else was more worried when he went down than he was. He got hit in the thigh, but what I liked is that when he went back in, he didn’t let it be an excuse. He played really hard.”
— Taylor and Northweather provided solid contributions off the bench. Taylor finished with 8 points on 3-7 shooting and added six rebounds in 23 minutes. Northweather chipped in 6 points, including three clutch free throws, despite going 1-4 from beyond the arc.
— Oklahoma’s shooting was a tale of two halves. The Sooners started strong from beyond the arc, going 7-16 (43.8%) in the first half. But they went cold in the second half, missing all five of their three-point attempts. Overall, they finished 7-21 (33.3%) from deep and 21-51 (41.2%) from the field, with 13 turnovers.
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