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The Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in their sixth game away from home this season. This time, Oklahoma got out to a solid start instead of the usual slump we see them fall into in the early going.
In a twist of events, Romero Osby was not awarded the start. The move by Lon Kruger may have been the difference maker as Obsy led OU with 22 points, just two shy of his career high of 24. His mark helped Oklahoma's bench put up a point total of 41 on the night.
At the start of the game, Oklahoma got out to a quick start behind Amath M'Baye's two jams to go up 6-2. Things seemed to on track for another road win...that was until the Razorbacks answered with a seven point run of their own. Arkansas would not relinquish this lead until late in the game. Steven Pledger hit back to back 3-pointers with 22 seconds left to put OU up 78-77 as Oklahoma would overcome an 11 point second half deficit.
From there it would be B.J. Young who found room to put up what would be the game winning floater with just under 15 seconds left to play. Young who had been averaging 21.4 points a game was held to a mere 10 points on the night. In contrast he hit a career high in assists with 8 while only committing a single turnover. From here, Arkansas left ample time for Oklahoma to retake the lead, but Osby would miss a crucial 18 footer that had the potential to be a game winner.
The real star of the night was Marshawn Powell who poured in a career high 33 points. Who would have thought that against the Sooners, not one but two players would set career marks? Definitely not the one and only Jordan Esco...I digress.
This proved to be Oklahoma's best shooting night of the season, blazing the nets for 64% in the second half and 55.4% for the game. However, they let their opponent shoot 52.6% from the field. The defense struggled as Arkansas got the shots they wanted, when they wanted them to snap a three game skid with a 81-78 victory.
You can bet that Lon Kruger will have his team working on their defensive scheme up to the time they play Texas A&M in the All-College Classic on December 15th.