Cameron Clark started the game for the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday afternoon and never took a seat. Oklahoma's talented freshman guard played all 40 minutes and gave Oklahoma the spark they needed for a convincing victory. Clark never gave Jeff Capel a reason to take him out and every reason to leave him in. He scored 17 points, grabbed 4 boards and had 3 steals. Most importantly he helped set the pace for a defense that helped OU turn a 19-6 deficit in the first eight minutes of the game into a 34-26 halftime lead.
Defensively the Sooners held ORU to just 36% shooting from the floor and 39-26 rebounding advantage. They forced 17 Golden Eagle turnovers and collected 9 steals. Oklahoma didn't start off shooting the ball particularly well which allowed for them to dig themselves into the 19-6 hole but once OU put the defensive clamps on their shots started to fall as well.
Steven Pledger led all Oklahoma scorers with 19 points but the Sooners had five players score 10 points or more for the game. In addition to Pledger and Clark, Andrew Fitzgerald scored 14, Carl Blair 12 and Cade Davis put in 10. Like the defense, it took Oklahoma's offense a minute to get going but also like the defense, once it did it worked very well. The Sooners shot 50% from the floor and 50% from three-point range for the game.
Again, not a win against a Big 12 caliber opponent but still marked improvement. This was a big win for a team that has struggled through the first 10 games of the season. Not only was it a comfortable win over their strongest home opponent yet but it also raised their season record back to .500 at 5-5. Up next is Cincinnati in the All College Classic.