Arkansas Pulls Away from Oklahoma With Second Half Burst

The Sooners led most of the first half, but started the second half with cold shooting and turnovers against Arkansas' long, athletic defense.

TULSA — Oklahoma ran into a Razorback Red buzz saw on Saturday.

The Sooners were game but ultimately struggled with Arkansas’ length and athletic ability in a 88-78 loss to the Hogs at the BOK Center.

OU won last year’s Crimson and Cardinal Classic, but the No. 9-ranked Razorbacks were too good this time.

OU fell to 7-3 on the non-conference season, while Arkansas improved to 9-1.

Oklahoma tried to rally from a 16-point second-half deficit, but Arkansas threw down back-to-back dunks to extend their lead to 80–68 with 1:43 to play.

Grant Sherfield made a layup, two 3s and a pair of free throws in the final two minutes — the last two cutting Arkansas’ lead to just nine points — and led OU with 23 points, but it wasn’t enough.

Milos Uzan had 15 points and five assists for Oklahoma, while Jalen Hill had 11 points and five rebounds.

"I thought Grant was a guy that was competing in that atmosphere," Moser said. "I thought Los did. We have to have more guys that come with it." 

Arkansas got 58 points in the paint and was led by 26 points from Ricky Council and 21 from Nick Smith. Jordan Walsh had 12 for the Hogs, while Makhi Mitchell scored 10 with six rebounds.

Arkansas prevailed in its first game without post star Trevon Brazile, who went down with a knee injury in the Razorbacks' last game. 

"Definitely a sad subject," Council said. "That was one of my main guys on the team. He has a really bright future, and still does when he recovers. It’s just tough not having him out there, but Jordan stepped up tonight." 

OU led most of the first half but opened the second half shooting just 5-of-13 from the floor (0-for-3 from 3-point range) with six turnovers.

Arkansas, meanwhile, made 11-of-15 to start the second half and committed just two turnovers as the Razorbacks built a 16-point lead.

Uzan started a minor OU rally with a pair of driving buckets, and Tanner Groves caught a kickout from Uzan and dropped in a 3-pointer that cut Arkansas’ lead to 73-64 with 4:47 to play.

Walsh immediately answered with his own 3, pushing the Hogs back to a 12-point lead.

The game got away from Oklahoma in the early stages of the second half thanks to Arkansas' length and athletic explosiveness. OU committed 15 turnovers and Arkansas collected 10 steals. The Razorbacks turned those Sooner turnovers into 17 points.

"That's a big part of the story," OU coach Porter Moser said. "A huge part."

Tanner Groves had picked up his third foul at the 17-minute mark, but his replacement, Sam Godwin, immediately landed an alley-oop dunk on a pass from Bijan Cortes that cut Arkansas’ lead to 47-44 with 16:41 to play.

Anthony Black answered with an alley-oop of his own from Council, and after Mitchell’s spinning, driving layup made it 49-46, Smith then intercepted the inbounds pass and threw down a forceful dunk to give the Hogs a 53-46 edge with 15:43 left.

"They capitalized," Moser said, "and that's that's what they do."

That forced Oklahoma into a timeout, which became two timeouts when the Hogs came out in a full-court press. OU’s first possession after the double timeout was a turnover and Mitchell scored uncontested down low for a 55-46 lead with 14:52 to play.

Walsh then stole Sherfield’s inbounds pass for a breakaway dunk and a 57-46 lead.

"Bad combination," Moser said. "Their length and effort on the inbounds play, you have to move, cut. We didn’t cut hard enough. That’s on me. We had two or three times where we just had to break to get open, but we didn’t. I don’t know if it was fatigue or their athletic ability getting to us. We took one inbounds play and flipped it and they intercepted it. It was a five-point game there. Another one where we called timeout where we could have broken and got a catch, but we didn’t. Those are things I have to clean up. It shouldn’t happen in those games."

Uzan momentarily stopped the bleeding with a driving floater that cut it to 57-48, but Smith popped a 3-pointer for a 60-48 Arkansas lead with 13:49 to play.

Groves returned with 13:16 left in the game, but exited with his fourth foul just two minutes later on a putback by Kamani Johnson that swelled Arkansas’ lead to 65-53. Groves eventually fouled out.

“It definitely hurts when Tanner gets that last foul, but I feel like Sam does a good job of always being ready and stepping up and playing big in his role," Sherfield said. "Not having two bigs down the stretch kind of hurt a little bit, with J-Hill having to go to the 5 a little bit. So it was definitely a blow losing Tanner.”

The Razorbacks’ lead grew to as much as 16 (71-55) at the 8:38 mark.

"We spotted so many points off turnovers," Moser said. "Then they got offensive rebounds. And they got cuts (to the basket)." 

The first half was at times played at a frantic pace, with OU leading most of the way but Arkansas holding a 43-40 lead at the break.

Oklahoma was hot early from the perimeter as Jacob Groves, Uzan and Tanner Groves each hit 3s to stake the Sooners to a 15-9 lead.

Godwin extended that when he took a pass from Uzan, executed a low-post move around a defender, spun and threw down a contested dunk to give the Sooners a 19-11 lead with 12:38 to play in the first half.

OU picked up the tempo briefly when Sherfield stepped into the passing lane and turned the steal into a layup on the other end for a 21-12 lead.

The Razorbacks quickly answered with a transition bucket of their own when  Smith lobbed an alley-oop to Council to cut it 21-14.

That kickstarted a mini run from Arkansas, including a putback by Walsh to make it 25-19 and a pull-up jump shot from Council that made it 25-21.

Sherfield’s 3 with 8:42 left in the half cut into the Razorbacks’ run, however, pushing the Sooners back to a 28-23 lead, and Joe Bamisile’s dramatic block of Council’s fast-break layup started another transition bucket, this one a reverse layup by Cortes that built OU’s lead to 30-23.

After Godwin’s layup was blocked by Mitchell, Mitchell assisted to Council for a scoop layup that made it 30-25. Smith added to that with another driving layup on an assist by Mitchell, cutting Oklahoma’’s lead to 30-27 and forcing Moser into a timeout with 5:34 until halftime.

OU maintained its slim lead thanks to acrobatic layups by Sherfield and Uzan (twice), but Walsh converted another tough putback and Council added another pull-up jumper to keep it close late in the half.

Bamisile’s alley-oop layup off a pass from Cortes pushed the Sooners back to a 38-33 lead, but Council answered immediately with the Razorbacks’ second 3-pointer of the half.

Council added a conventional three-point play on Arkansas’ next possession, leaning in and drawing Tanner Groves’ second personal foul to give the Hogs a 39-38 lead with 1: 43 left — their first lead since 9-8.

After Bamisile lost the balll on his way to the rim, Smith hit a bucket for a 41-38 Arkansas lead, but Jacob Groves converted a driving layup to make it 41-40.

Davonte Davis closed the half strong for the Razorbacks by picking Cortes’ pocket, drawing a loose-ball foul and converting a pair of free throws for a three-point halftime edge.

Oklahoma, which made 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts, shot 62 percent from the floor in the first half and still trailed by three as the Razorbacks shot 57 percent.

The BOK Center was roughly 80 percent full, and of those, 70 percent might have been Razorback fans.

"It was a great environment," Moser said. "It’s an environment you want to play in. ... Great environment here in Tulsa for both fanbases."