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OU basketball rolls ORU, 95-71, Mo Wague sets career high once again

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo4 hours agoBPrzybylo
Mo Wague5
OU center Mo Wague. (Nathan J. Fish - Imagn Images)

You knew whoever OU basketball had to play this week that it was going to be all about the defense.

Cannot give up as much as the Sooners did last weekend and not have the pride be hurt just a bit. It’s all head coach Porter Moser talked about leading up to the game.

Sure enough, OU did come out with a different defensive intensity. And a lot of that led to easy chances offensively and cruising to a 95-71 victory against visiting Oral Roberts on Thursday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.

OU allowed 105 points in the loss to Nebraska and responded by allowing the Golden Eagles to just 24 points on 33 percent shooting in the first half.

“First half, I did,” said Moser about defensive success. “I thought we had progress. They had 24 points and 10 were second-chance. Progress. We did a lot of things we wanted to do. But we have a lot of room to grow, letting up in the second half. Our switches were really good in the first half. Our physicality on the drive. We have to maintain. Progress, really pleased how we guarded in the first half.”

More and more, you’re getting an idea of what Mo Wague is going to mean to this team. For the second time this season, Wague posted a career high in points. Wague posted 20 points and seven rebounds, making 9 of his 12 shot attempts.

OU news/notes

*Thursday marked the first action for wing Jadon Jones. After missing last season with a back injury and the first four games this time around with a groin injury, he finally made his debut.

Jones made five free throws in the first half. Then drained a 3-pointer to welcome himself to the OU faithful. He played 13 minutes.

“It felt great. Just still trying to get back in the flow of things, kind of get reacclimated to everything,” Jones said. “I’m just really grateful to be out here. It’s been a while since I played. It’s easy to get caught up in the minutes and all that stuff, but I’m just happy to be playing basketball. I’m super blessed.”

Jones will be a key piece when it comes to the Sooners’ defensive efforts the rest of the way.

*It was all about the steals. OU was locked in, especially Jeff Nwankwo. He had three in the first half. Included in that was a beautiful two-steal outing in the final 20 seconds of the first half. Would not let ORU get anything going.

Derrion Reid showed a little bit of what he could do as well. He had two blocks and two steals to go with his seven points. OU had a season high in steals with 13 and forced 18 turnovers.

*Let Nijel Pack shoot. At least from deep. Another stellar 3-point shooting exhibition by the OU guard. He was 4-of-5 from 3-point territory on his way to 18 points.

Tae Davis was the other Sooner double figures with 13 points, three steals and five rebounds.

Up next

OU (3-2) stays in Norman for the weekend and welcomes Alcorn State to the Lloyd Noble Center. Will it be a continuation of good vibes following an OU football win against Missouri? Alcorn was the McCasland Field House game last season. Tip is set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.

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