OU Basketball: Oklahoma Smothers Arkansas in Fiery Tulsa Battle
TULSA — With the game slipping away, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman lost his mind.
The Razorbacks’ momentum out of halftime had been quelled by No. 19 Oklahoma’s steady offense, and the game was begging to slip away.
On the wrong end of a 10-0 run headed into a media timeout, Musselman came all the way out to mid-court to rip into the referees, earning two quick technical fouls and a swift ejection.
From there, all he could do was watch his team wilt in front of a pro-Arkansas crowd at the BOK Center in Tulsa, as the No. 19-ranked Sooners smothered the Razorbacks offense to win 79-70.
Final box score
OU Stats
The victory marked the second time in the past three seasons that OU (9-0) handled Arkansas (6-4) in Tulsa, marking the final edition of the Crimson and Cardinal Classic at the BOK Center as the Sooners will join the SEC next year.
Javian McCollum led OU with 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting, followed by Otega Oweh’s 14 points and Rivaldo Soares’ 13-point contribution from the bench.
“It was an emotional game,” OU coach Porter Moser said after the win. “I think the atmosphere is awesome here in Tulsa…. We had a lot of guys step up.
“I think Javian continues to step up. I think Rivaldo Soares had a really nice game for us. Otega hit a big shot. (Milos Uzan) had a big drive. Sam made key free throws in a stretch. A lot of guys kept stepping up.”
The game was testy from the opening tip.
Both team’s physical playing style resulted in a back-and-forth opening half, complete with seven ties and six lead changes.
Oklahoma’s offense initially went through a feeling out period, figuring out how to attack Arkansas’ defense that excels at blocking shots.
But late in the half, OU turned a corner.
Back-to-back plays from Oweh, a sly cut where he was found by Le’Tre Darthard and a flying tip-in, highlighted a 14-2 run by the Sooners to close the half that silenced the Razorback faithful and put Oklahoma up by 12 points headed into the break.
“(Things clicked at) the last media (timeout),” McCollum said. “We said we had to close out the half strong, we wanted to go into halftime with a comfortable lead. I think our players got the message across. We went out there and executed.”
Arkansas then came out of the locker room with intent.
Mark Tramon hit a pair of jump shots and Layden Blocker added two Razorback free throws to cut the OU advantage to six points, bringing the fans in the BOK Center to their feet.
“We knew Arkansas was going to keep fighting,” Moser said. “And they did. They play so hard. We knew that, at halftime, had a lot of basketball left.”
Unbothered by the game tightening back up, Oklahoma’s guards started to assert themselves.
McCollum connected on a triple, and then he drew a foul the next trip down the court that sent him to the free throw line for three shots.
Oklahoma guard Javian McCollum hits a tough shot in the first half against Arkansas.
NATHAN J. FISH / THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK
After making all three to push the lead back out to 10 points, the Sooners got a stop and it was sophomore guard Milos Uzan’s turn to go on attack.
Uzan bullied his way into the lane, drawing a foul call, and his two free throw makes were followed by a Darthard 3-pointer to send the game into a timeout.
Jawing between the two teams as they headed back to the bench led to Musselman flying off the handle, and after McCollum converted both technical free throws, the Sooners suddenly found themselves up 50-33 with 15:50 left to play.
“We were playing emotionally,” Moser said. “… I don’t know what the key was (to stay calm) because we played emotionally, too. You can play with emotion, but you can’t play emotionally.”
The referees’ whistles then dictated the next five minuets of the contest.
Nine fouls combined fouls were called against both teams over the next five minuets of game action, putting both teams in the bonus for the final 10 minutes of the contest and robbing the game of any kind of rhythm.
The disjoint nature of the second half didn’t phase Oklahoma, however, as the Sooners maintained their double-digit lead until the final minute of the game when Moser cleared the bench.
OU consistently answered anytime the Razorbacks tried to put together a run in the second half, with McCollum leading the way.
“He controls the tempo of every game,” OU center Sam Godwin said. “He's the head of our snake offensively and he's a great leader for us. It's just the work that he puts in every day, it's not really a surprise to any of the guys in the locker room.
“We see him getting shots before practice, after practice. This dude just loves the game, so seeing him do what he does is not really a surprise to us.”
The Sooners’ defense held Arkansas to 38.8 percent shooting from the floor, and OU connected on 51 percent of its shots.
Oklahoma also won the rebounding battle, pulling down 30 boards to Arkansas’ 24.
With finals week on the horizon, the Sooners will have to wait until next Saturday to get back onto the floor.
Oklahoma will host Green Bay on Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The start to the season has been a dream for the Sooners, but OU hopes the growing spotlight on the team is only the beginning of a strong season.
“That's what we want. We want to be the best, we want to beat the best,” McCollum said. “That's what you want to ask for. That's what it takes to win a national championship.
“You want that target on your back. You want to go out there with knowing that those teams respect you at a high level, because we're going out there competing at a high level every night.”
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