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SoonerScoop Sights & Sounds: OU 97, Vanderbilt 67

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•about 10 hours•

BPrzybylo

Just put them in the bank is how OU head coach Porter Moser loves phrasing it. Any win the rest of the way is going to be a good one for the Sooners – put them in the bank.

OU banked another one Saturday with an emphatic 97-67 victory against No. 24 Vanderbilt. OU used a 23-0 run in the second half to turn a six-point deficit (42-36) into a 17-point advantage (59-42).

Freshman Jeremiah Fears had 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior Jalon Moore scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half.

OU is 16-5 overall, 3-5 in the SEC, and heads to No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday night.

Relive it in the Sights & Sounds from SoonerScoop video editor Eddie Radosevich.

Moser says…

“We had 11 turnovers at halftime. We talked about it. I think they had 12 more shots than us at halftime. We were down four. We just talked about it, we switched our defense, and we talked about taking care of the ball. One of the guards said to me, ‘Hey, their pressure and speed is real.’

“They were up there really pressuring you far away from the court. When you’re not aggressive, they can poke at it, and they’re elite at it. I thought we were a lot stronger and went downhill more than in the first half. You get more attempts at the rim and we shot it the way we shot it. It’s hard, 70%. Taking care of the ball in the second half enabled us to do that.”

Historical notes

*Marked just the second time in school history that OU beat an AP Top 25 team by at least 30 points. The Sooners also beat No. 19 Arkansas by 30 (87-57) in the 1998-99 season in Norman. The 30-point victory margin was OU’s largest since beating Lindenwood by 33 (93-60) in the season opener.

• The Sooners shot .632 from the field on the afternoon, their best figure against a conference opponent since the 2004-05 season when they shot .661 in a 103-60 home win over Baylor.

• Trailing 40-36 at halftime, OU outscored Vanderbilt 61-27 in the second half. Marked the first time since at least the 1996-97 season that OU scored 61 points in a half against a conference opponent. Was just the fourth time overall the Sooners scored 61 in a half during that time span (also vs. Tulsa in 2013-14 [second half], vs. Northwestern in 2017-18 [first half] and vs. UTSA in 2021-22 [second half]).

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