Mohamed Wague scored a career-high 20 points to lead Oklahoma to a 95-71 win over Oral Roberts on Thursday in Norman, Okla.
Wague added seven rebounds and a block. He was 9 of 12 from the floor.
After Oklahoma struggled defensively in a loss to Nebraska on Saturday to continue an early trend, Sooners coach Porter Moser said his team would be better on that end of the floor relatively quickly.
They certainly looked it against the Golden Eagles, forcing 18 turnovers and turning them into 25 points on the other end. Oklahoma had 13 steals, led by three apiece from Tae Davis and Jeff Nwankwo. Derrion Reid finished with two blocks and two steals.
While the Sooners (3-2) forced plenty of turnovers, they also limited giveaways on their end, turning the ball over just three times. It was the fewest turnovers for Oklahoma since March 2021.
Nijel Pack scored 18 points for Oklahoma, hitting four 3-pointers, while Davis added 13.
Ofri Naveh led Oral Roberts (2-4) with 13 points. Connor Dow added 12 and Ty Harper and Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams each scored 11.
The Sooners jumped ahead quickly on back-to-back buckets by Pack and led 11-2 after holding Oral Roberts to 1-of-7 shooting in the first six minutes.
After the midpoint of the first half, the Golden Eagles never pulled closer than 13.
Oklahoma led 42-24 at halftime, holding Oral Roberts to 10 of 30 from the field and 2 of 12 from beyond the arc in the first half. Outside of Naveh, the Golden Eagles were just 5 of 24 before the break.
Oklahoma’s defense took a bit of a step back in the second half, as Oral Roberts shot 53.6% from the floor with seven 3-pointers to score 47 points.
But after an early 3-pointer by Dow cut the Sooners’ lead to 17, Oklahoma ripped off a 15-4 run to extend the lead to 59-31.
The Sooners outscored the Golden Eagles 46-24 in the paint.
Oklahoma guard Xzayvier Brown had scored in double figures in 37 consecutive games but finished with just nine to snap that streak.
–Field Level Media
