Everybody played, everybody scored and the rout was on! While I had no idea of what to expect in the Sooners opener I know for sure I didn't expect to shocked like this! That's what a 99-36 win will do to ya.
Austin Johnson was the man of the hour in the first half knocking down five 3-point shots in the first half and finishing with a team high18 total points. Tony Crocker (15 pts), Longar Longar (14 pts), David Godbold (13 pts) and Nate Carter (11 pts) all joined Austin in double figure scoring.
The Sooners also crashed the boards and beat the Spartans in the rebound battle 49 - 31. That is a trend that needs to continue for the Sooners as the level of competition increases.
Another stat that needs to continue to show up in the box score is blocked shots. Oklahoma had 6 blocks against Norfolk State led by freshman Keith Clark who had three swats.
The one thing that bothers me about the game was the 13 turnovers. To me anything over 10 is unacceptable. Oklahoma had 22 assists and forced 21 turnovers but on a night like tonight those thirteen turnovers could have easily turned into 26 extra points. In the game preview I said that the Sooners will have to take advantage of opportunities and giving the ball back 13 times definitely isn't doing that.
Over all you can't help but be satisfied with a win like this but you also can't take much from it except for the fact that Oklahoma did a lot of things right but they also were playing against sub par competition. We can expect more of the same Thursday night against Liberty before Oklahoma takes a huge step up in competition when they go to Maui. Remember improvement from game to game is what we are looking for.