Oklahoma overcomes Alcorn State

NORMAN— The Oklahoma men’s basketball team overcame an uncharacteristic poor shooting performance by grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and posting a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points in a 72-53 win over Alcorn State on Sunday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.

One game after committing just three turnovers in a comfortable victory over Oral Roberts, the Sooners (4-2) again took care of the ball on Sunday, committing only seven miscues and outscoring the Braves 19-4 off turnovers.

Alcorn State (0-7) was coming off a game in which it scored 81 points at LSU on Tuesday. Its 53 points Sunday were its second fewest of the season.

First-year OU forward Derrion Reid registered career highs of 16 points and eight rebounds. The sophomore Alabama transfer was 2 for 4 from 3-point range and 4 for 5 from the free throw line and added two assists without a turnover in a career-high 33 minutes. His previous career scoring high was 12 points.

Redshirt senior guard Nijel Pack continued his recent 3-point success, draining five of 12 from downtown en route to a game-high 17 points. Pack, who also logged a game-high five assists and matched his career high with four steals, is 20 for 36 (.556) from behind the arc over the last four games. He has scored at least 15 points in all six of OU’s contests.

Junior guard Xzayvier Brown scored nine of his 11 points after halftime, when OU outscored Alcorn State 37-20 and held it to 32.0% field goal shooting.

Freshman Kai Rogers was effective in his most playing time this season. The 6-10 forward/center produced four points and a career-high six rebounds, including five offensive, in 13 minutes.

Fellow big man Mohamed Wague finished with six points and eight boards, matching Reid and Alcorn State’s Mike Jones for game-high honors on the glass.

The Sooners, who shot season lows of 33.3% from the field and 67.9% from the free throw line, led 35-33 at halftime and outscored the Braves by 17 in the second half.

OU is off until Friday when it faces Marquette in Chicago at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be played at Credit Union 1 Arena and will be televised by NBC.

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