Report Card: Sooners grab road win at Wake Forest

The Sooners went on the road on Tuesday night and picked up a convincing win at Wake Forest, powered by a dominant second half — arguably one of the best all-around halves of basketball in the Porter Moser era — leading them to an 86-68 victory and moving them to 6-2 on the season. It was led by Derrion Reid and Tae Davis, who both had 18 points, and Mohamed Wague, who added 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Here’s how each Sooner graded out in the second non-conference road win of the Porter Moser era.

Starting Five

Guard: Xzayvier Brown — 75 — 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two turnovers on 3-11 shooting from the field, 0-6 from deep, and 5-6 from the free throw line. Brown didn’t shoot the ball well at all, but he did just about everything else well. Made some really nice plays as a facilitator in the second half. It’s worth noting he is still dealing with an ankle injury, which probably explains why his shot looks a little flat.

Guard: Nijel Pack — 84 — 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two turnovers on 4-8 shooting from the field and 3-6 from deep. Not as explosive as other games, but still a really good performance. Pack shot it well again and made a three from way downtown. Another strong outing from him.

Wing: Derrion Reid — 87 — 18 points, four rebounds, and two turnovers on 6-11 shooting from the field, 2-4 from deep, and 4-6 from the free throw line. Over the last three games, he has had the three highest scoring performances of his career. It may not look super flashy, but he’s been really good for Oklahoma. Most encouraging is that he’s shot 54.5% from deep in those games. Reid has done exactly what this team has needed from him.

Wing: Tae Davis — 89 — 18 points and two rebounds on 6-9 shooting from the field, 1-2 from deep, and 5-7 from the line. He picked up where he left off against Marquette. When he plays aggressive and like the player they brought him in to be, this is a different team. Oklahoma was able to go to him for some key buckets down low again. He’s starting to look like the player they expected, and that’s what is making this team dangerous.

Center: Mohamed Wague — 92 — 11 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three turnovers, two blocks, and a steal on 3-3 shooting from the field and 5-7 from the line. This might be the best game he has played in an Oklahoma uniform. He logged a career-high 33 minutes and did a phenomenal job staying out of foul trouble in a game where officials called everything. Super active everywhere and did a great job getting deflections on defense. Was +12.1 on the night. Incredible performance.

Starting Five Average Grade: 85.4

Bench

Guard: Dayton Forsythe — 63 — 2 points, four assists, two rebounds, and two turnovers on 1-3 shooting. Forsythe had a negative OBPM, which pulls his grade down, but he still had some good moments. Made multiple nice passes as a facilitator and hit a tough bucket. Efficiency just wasn’t great. Still made winning plays.

Wing: Jeff Nwankwo — 42 — 0 points on 0-3 shooting from the field and 0-2 from deep in a season-low nine minutes. Foul trouble limited him, but he had a -21 BPM while on the floor, which is really rough. Didn’t love the two quick threes. Just a tough night.

Wing: Jadon Jones — 82 — 11 points, four rebounds, and two fouls drawn on three-point attempts on 2-5 shooting and 5-6 at the line. I’m not sure there’s a better player in college basketball at drawing fouls on three-pointers. I also don’t think there’s a better on-ball or off-ball defender on this team. Jones has been exactly the 3&D wing they needed and has helped the defense tremendously. Played 22 minutes, the most of anyone off the bench.

Center: Kai Rogers — 70 — 2 points and two rebounds on 1-1 shooting in seven minutes. I said this after the Marquette game, but Oklahoma needs him to give them a good 6-10 minutes a night. He did that again here. Encouraging to see how he has played when he’s out there. If he keeps growing and settling in, it raises the team’s ceiling.

Bench Average Grade: 64.2

Overall Grade: 76.0

Oklahoma will return to action Saturday, December 6th, against Arizona State in Phoenix at 9:00 pm CT. After that, it’s Bedlam on Saturday, December 13th, in Oklahoma City. The Sooners need to go at least 1-1 in those games, and going 2-0 would make you feel really good about where things stand.

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