All Sooners

OU Basketball: Oklahoma Cruises Past Mississippi Valley State

The Sooners were sharp defensively once again in a Friday night blowout at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Ryan Chapman

OU Basketball: Oklahoma Cruises Past Mississippi Valley State
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Cruises Past Mississippi Valley State /
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Oklahoma’s strong start to the season rolled on against the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils.

The Sooners dominated the visitors, moving to 2-0 on the year with a 82-43 victory at the Lloyd Noble Center on Friday night.

Final box score from Oklahoma vs. Mississippi Valley State
Final box score from Oklahoma vs. Mississippi Valley State / OU Stats

Sophomore Otega Oweh led the scoring again, pouring in a career-high 20 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting performance, but 11 different Sooners scored on the night.

OU built an early lead with a 9-0 run where Oweh and Oregon transfer Rivaldo Soares traded buckets, forcing a Mississippi Valley State timeout with 13:11 left until halftime.

The Delta Devils were unable to regroup, however, as Oklahoma continued to lead with its defense.

The Sooners forced seven turnovers in the first half which directly led to 14 points, helping Porter Moser’s team build a sizable halftime lead.

Once the game settled in, OU worked the ball around offensive, generating plenty of wide-open looks from beyond the arc.

Oklahoma snuggled to knock down those jumpers, however, shooting just 6-of-17 from deep in the first 20 minutes.

But OU’s bigs stayed active on the boards.

The Sooners pulled down 12 offensive rebounds in the first half alone, which OU used to pour in 15 second chance points to build a 50-23 halftime lead.

Halftime brought no relief for Mississippi Valley State, as Oklahoma picked up right where it left off in the second half.

OU build its lead up to a 41-point advantage before Moser started to pull his starters with eight minutes left in the contest.

Oweh added six rebounds to his scoring effort, and three other Sooners reached double-digits in scoring.

Sam Godwin finished as the second-leading scorer, adding 12 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Soares connected on 3-of-9 shooting from the floor, knocking down all four of his free throws to finish with 11 points, and Le’Tre Darthard knocked down three triples to finished with 10 points, two rebounds and three assists.

Mississippi Valley State was held to 32 percent shooting from the floor, while Oklahoma shot 46 percent for the night.

The Sooners will return to action on Tuesday night, hosting Texas State at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK.