Xzayvier Brown scored 21 points to lead Oklahoma to a 89-67 win over Kansas City on Tuesday in Norman.
The Sooners (8-3) have won back-to-back games and six of their last seven while the Roos (2-10) have dropped 10 of their last 11.
Oklahoma got out to a quick start with a 15-0 run after Kansas City hit a 3-pointer in the opening seconds and the Sooners’ lead never dropped below eight.
The Sooners hit their first six shots and seven of their first eight to take control.
Karmello Branch led the Roos with 23 points.
The Roos didn’t make a shot inside the arc for nearly 11 minutes to begin the game, missing their first six such shots and starting just 3 for 15 overall.
About eight minutes into the game, Oklahoma reserve guard Dayton Forsythe, who had played through an ankle injury in a win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, went down after injuring his other ankle.
Forsythe did not return.
The Sooners missed seven consecutive shots later in the first half but their lead only shrunk by five points as the Roos had three turnovers during the stretch, managing just four shots.
After struggling for three consecutive games after suffering an injury Nov. 23 against Alcorn State, Brown has rounded back into form over the last two games.
He scored 21 on 6-of-9 shooting in Saturday’s win over Oklahoma State and then got going quickly against Kansas City, hitting two of Oklahoma’s first three shots.
Brown finished 8 of 15 from the field including 6 of 9 from inside the arc.
Nijel Pack and Derrion Reid added 15 points each for Oklahoma, with Reid making all five of his shots from inside the arc.
Brown scored 14 points in the first half while Pack scored 13.
The Sooners outscored the Roos 48-16 in the paint and outrebounded the Roos 42-34.
But though Kansas City never made a serious run at the lead after that initial outburst by Oklahoma, the Sooners also didn’t exactly run away and hide in the second half.
The Sooners led by as many as 31 early in the second half but the Roos got as close as 17 late before going without a field goal in the final 3:56.
–Field Level Media
