OU basketball vs. Arkansas: Four takeaways from Sooners' win against Razorbacks

TULSA — Javian McCollum might not be Allen Iverson, but he’s definitely running the point for OU like no other since Trae Young.

In a 79-70 win over Arkansas in the Crimson and Cardinal Classic on Saturday at the BOK Center, McCollum was once again at the center of things for the 19th-ranked Sooners.

The Siena transfer had 20 points, five rebounds and four assists to help OU improve to 9-0.

“He controls the tempo of every game,” Sooners forward Sam Godwin said of McCollum. “He’s the head of our snake offensively and he’s a great leader for us.

“This dude just loves the game, so seeing him do what he does is not really a surprise to us.”

The Sooners are off to their best start since the 2015-16 team that eventually made the Final Four won their first 12 games.

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Saturday, McCollum’s fingerprints were all over OU’s win.

After Arkansas cut what was a 12-point Sooners’ lead in half to start the second, McCollum drained a 3-pointer to steady the ship.

A minute later, McCollum drew a foul on a 3-pointer and hit all of the free throws to kickstart a 12-0 Sooners run that ultimately put the game away.

“Those are big,” Sooners coach Porter Moser said. “You know they’re in their locker room because they’re a great program. You don’t get what you’ve done without knowing there’s 20 minutes left. They came back and they did what we thought, and then for him to hit a 3 like that, score five straight, shows us how much he means to us. Those were big points when they were making a run to start the second half.”

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman praised the Sooners’ backcourt..

“I don’t look at him as just a point guard. I think he’s a combo guard,” Musselman said. “And they have two combo guards, which I think makes them effective — (Milos Uzan) and him. They both can play the point and they both can play off the ball.”

Here are three other takeaways from the Sooners’ win:

More: Five things to know about OU men's basketball team for 2023-24 season

Defense stymies Razorbacks

Arkansas finished just 40% from the floor, and needed a late surge to get to that point.

Similarly in the paint, Oklahoma outscored the Razorbacks 36-26 in the paint and it took a late push for Arkansas to make it that close.

It was the fifth time in nine games that the Sooners have held an opponent to 40% or less from the floor.

“We’re trying to play more uptempo, score more points, get more possessions,” Moser said. “But the biggest thing we're saying is you don't want to do it at the expense of your defense. I thought the guys were playing hard on defense. I just think that's been a key for us. We've got some pieces for us that can guard.”

Moser praised several of his players’ defensive efforts, but especially Godwin’s.

“I thought Sam's defense in the second half, he bottled up some things in the ball screen on the side,” Moser said.

Musselman was even more effusive in his praise of Godwin.

“He’s one of the best in college basketball at going vertical,” Musselman said. “He’s one of the best players at not needing the ball in his hands to affect the game, so really, really impressed with him in particular with his demeanor on the court.

“He, in my opinion, really excels at his role.”

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Eric Musselman ejected — again

For the second time in three seasons, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman wasn’t around to see the end of the game in the BOK Center.

Just more than four minutes into the second half, the game went to a media timeout after a seemingly routine play with Arkansas maintaining possession after the ball went off an OU player and out of bounds.

But moments after the whistle, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman was animated as he argued with lead official Keith Kimble.

Musselman quickly drew a pair of technical fouls, earning an ejection.

“I have no comments about the refs at all.” Musselman said of the ejection.

Musselman was also ejected late in OU’s 2021-22 win over the Razorbacks.

The heated exchanges didn’t begin or end with Musselman, though, as Rivaldo Soares was also called for a technical during the timeout that sent Musselman to the showers.

A few minutes later, the Sooners’ Otega Oweh was called for a technical foul for shouting toward the Arkansas bench after hitting a 3-pointer.

All in all, six technical fouls were called in the game.

“I’ve never been in a game where my team had that many,” Moser said. “Like that’s the most we’ve had. It’s just — I want to look at them. Because of course my guys are like, ‘I didn’t say anything.’ And I was like, ‘OK.’ But you know, they’re playing emotionally. So we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better.”

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BOK crowd brings energy

The last two seasons, while the Crimson and Cardinal Classic was a neutral site matchup, Arkansas fans made up the majority of the crowd.

Saturday, though, there was a much larger proportion of OU fans in the BOK Center, giving much more energy to the matchup, especially early when the game was back and forth until the Sooners’ closing run.

The game will be a conference game next season, making it unlikely it will return to Tulsa.

Moser didn’t want to look to the future but said the atmosphere was a positive for his team.

“We’ve trying to be great where our feet are today,” Moser said. “We got a great non-conference slate. We’ve got a Big 12 slate coming up, who’s off to an unbelievable start. We’ll move on to the SEC next year, and I just know this has been great in Tulsa. I think both programs, it’s been great, NCAA-type Regional atmospheres here.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball beat Arkansas as Javian McCollum scores 20 for Sooners