NORMAN, Okla. - Coming into Saturday, Arkansas hoped to limit Oklahoma leading scorer Cam Clark.
The Razorbacks accomplished that goal, holding the foul-plagued Clark scoreless. It was one of few goals accomplished for Arkansas, though, as the Sooners more than picked up the slack in a 78-63 win at Lloyd Noble Center.
Steven Pledger scored 22 points, Andrew Fitzgerald 17 points and Tyler Neal 16 points to lead Oklahoma to its second win in three days.
“We had a really good flow going, a good run,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “On a couple of occasions we lost focus through the 40 minutes…but overall we did a great job. A lot of guys stepped up and made plays for each other.
“We’d rather Cam not be in foul trouble, but when he is, guys have a lot of confidence in other guys coming into the ballgame and it doesn’t change what we’re doing.”
The Sooners (7-1) hit 52 percent of their shots, including 50 percent of their 3-point attempts to avenge a loss to the Razorbacks last season in Fayetteville.
Oklahoma led for nearly the entire game, using a tough defense to halt Arkansas each time it looked to be making a run.
“They can get on a big run with that press if they get it going and cranking it up pretty good,” Kruger said. “We avoided that, I thought.”
Arkansas (5-3) couldn’t match Oklahoma’s shooting display. The Razorbacks missed their first 10 shots and hit only 34.5 percent of their attempts for the game.
“It probably wasn’t one of our best performances, and probably one of our worst from a shooting standpoint,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said.
“I just thought we showed some tendencies of a young basketball team. We kind of get rattled pretty easy.”
VIDEO: Mike Anderson – Oklahoma Postgame
The Razorbacks jumped to a 4-0 lead on a quartet of Rickey Scott free throws, but Oklahoma responded with a 12-0 run to take the lead for good.
Paced by Fitzgerald’s 17 points before halftime, the Sooners led by as many as 15 points in the first half and 37-25 at the intermission.
Fitzgerald, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, had a career-high scoring output and also added a team-high eight rebounds.
“He was pretty tough,” said Arkansas freshman forward Hunter Mickelson, who finished with 4 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. “He’s a good player and most of our guys inside are pretty young. It was definitely an experience.”
Arkansas was led by BJ Young, who scored 24 points in the loss. Young, who scored 28 points in a loss last weekend at Connecticut, is averaging 16.5 points through eight games for the Razorbacks.
Still, Anderson said he would like to see more consistency from his freshman star.
“It isn’t all about scoring,” Anderson said. “There are some other things that BJ has got to be able to do for our basketball team as well.
“We’ve got to get some other guys to start stepping up. I thought every time I looked to bring somebody in off the bench to give us a lift, we just couldn’t find those people to give us a lift today.”
While not in the starting lineup, Young started the second half, helping the Razorbacks pull within 41-35 shortly after halftime. Arkansas could get no closer, though, as the Sooners used a 13-3 run to break the game open.
Pledger scored eight points during the stretch. He began the run with a lay-up off an offensive rebound and added a pair of 3-pointers.
The run extended the Sooners lead to 16 points and Oklahoma led by as many as 18 in the second half.
“It just seemed like we could never get that lead down to a number we could work with,” Anderson said. “That’s a credit to them.
“I’ll take the blame for this one here. We had a week to get prepared and we just didn’t get the job done.”
You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.
Keep grinding it out boys and listen to Coach Anderson. We’re still behind you.
Need to get some more contributions from people other than BJ Young. BJ is playing like a 5 star prospect, but Madden and Mickelson should average double double’s, and they will in time. Just need to get in their head they will not be satisfied ever with less than 10 pts and 10 rebounds.
CLEVELAND HILL!! DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY!! Scott and Nobles were not themselves at all. Madden needs hard work on weights.
Simply put we missed too many shots and had too many turnovers. It’s correctable and will take time. Young has got to get in starting lineup. The season will will rest on what Abron and Mickelson can do? When they develop, so will the hogs. They both are are monsters in the making. Young is already there, Anderson need to roll with him. It is his (Young) team now in absence of Powell. OU fans fans were very nice. We had great time in Norman. Be patient and good things will happen.
Yeah, patience is going to be key with this team. If we lose a game like this in February I’ll be a bit concerned, but right now, they are playing like a young team building some experience and experiencing growing pains.
We have no inside threat right now. We had lots of shots 10 feet and in and instead of making 75 – 80% of those; we hitting like 35%? Abron had nice spurt in second half and Mickelson was a blocking monster. We are not finishing the easy stuff. We had a 3 on 1 and shot ended up being blocked then we fouled!!! Madden seems tentative to shoot? but we can not jump shot to victory on perimeter. They are trying to do the right things and I think it will come around. Anderson was clearly frustrated. They stopped pressing when they were getting back in the game so IO assume they were tiring down? He may need to play more of that very short bench?
We will miss Powell’s inside game for sure this year. We need to have Mickelson to come on, for he shows glimpses of being a great inside player himself. BJ and Wade have got to have some help for sure with the shooting chores, Nobles and Scott, along with the others need to be getting in on extra shooting practice with each other, I know they dom’t want to join the bricklayers union. If these kids will beleive in theirselves, the shots will start going down, When they gel and develop a full chemestry, they will get some good wins. Waith, come on man and play with that god given talent you have, I’m pullin for you! Become our Charles Balentine ( A great razorback player, who made a liveing off of cleaning up missed shots and putting them back in for 2.)Thats my vision for you buddy!
I think Scott and Nobles need to learn how to quit shuffling their feet. Everytime they move, they walk. They look very tentative and they’re not the Freshmen. BJ Young will be a very good Razorback; yes he has learning to do, but will get better with each game. Mickelson needs some confidence, and Abron needs some offensive skills, he’s very slow around the basket. Nobles has the skills to be very good on offense, but he disappears more often than he appears. We definitely have a foundation to work with and be succesful but it’s going to take time, probably all year. I’m very excited about Qualls, he looks very promising and explosive. Going to be a bumpy ride this year but I love watching them play and learn. I know we are tired of hearing it, but man I wish Powell and Clarke were still here with this group…this would be one good team!