Oklahoma had what may have been its strongest showing of the year in the 79-62 win over Arizona in front of 7,763 fans at the Lloyd Noble Center on Sunday night.
They got off to a slow start, scoring wise, despite controlling things on the defensive end of the floor, but the Sooners would never trail in the contest and would win it comfortably.
For the second consecutive game the Sooners were able to slow down the opposition’s leading scorer. Last time it was Cade Davis locking down on Arkansas’s Rotnei Clark, but Sunday it was Tommy Mason-Griffin and Willie Warren limiting Arizona’s Nic Wise to 15.
“We are elevating our play,” said Willie Warren after the game. “Everybody is elevating their play to the next level.”
In the first half the Sooners would pull out to a 16-point lead before the Wildcats would cut it down to 10 at 29-19 after draining consecutive three-point shots, but the Sooners would turn it on to close the period and TMG would drain a bucket as the half ended to send the Sooners in to the locker room with a 44-26 lead.
OU would not let off the gas in the second half and opened the period on a 9-5 run to extend the lead 53-31 and Arizona would never come within 18 points of OU until around the 1:00 minute mark.
The Sooners played excellent defense and held the Wildcats to under 50% from the field.
Willie Warren had a strong game by going 10-of-14 (3-4 from behind the arc) from the field and scoring 25 points to lead all scorers.
Freshman guard Tommy Mason-Griffin had what may be considered his best showing of his Sooner career and added 10 points to go along with his 6 assists.
Keith Gallon left the game around the seven minute mark and finished just short of a double-double (14 points, 7 rebounds) and had what was probably his strongest showing since the season opener against Mt. Saint Mary’s where he pulled down 15 boards.
OU hosts Centenary on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST (televised by the Sooner Sports Network). The Sooners lead the series 4-0.