• OU has trouble scoring in the paint, but hits 11 3-pointers in victory
With its inside tandem of Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout shackled by a collapsing Binghamton defense, Oklahoma looked elsewhere for scoring.
All the Sooners had to do was look outside.
No. 5 OU connected on a season-high 11 3-pointers and cruised to an 88-60 victory over the Bearcats Wednesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.
“We have a lot of ways to score points,” OU coach Kelvin Sampson said.
Michael Neal led the 3-point barrage for the second straight game. The Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year finished with 14 points. Backcourt mate David Godbold also tossed in 14.
“Coach has been telling me if I get an open look to put it down,” Godbold said. “That’s what I did tonight.”
Of course, some extra practice helped. The Sooners have been going through early-morning shooting sessions recently. The extra work appears to be paying off.
“I think we’re going to keep that going,” Sampson said. “You can really see the guys gaining a lot of confidence from it.” Gray, who was whistled for a technical foul with 7 minutes left in the first half, was in foul trouble throughout the game. He finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots, but only played 21 minutes.
Bookout scored nine points and pulled down five rebounds, but he only took three shots from the field.
The Bearcats put their defensive focus in the paint and limited Gray and Bookout to 11 shots.
The Sooner backcourt didn’t have any problems picking up the slack.
“It’s been kind of tough at times,” Gray said of the added attention he’s received from defenders. “It opens things up for guys like David and Michael Neal. It makes it easier on them and helps them out. It’s good for them.”
Neal and Godbold combined to sink eight of OU’s 11 3-pointers.
The Sooners connected on 29-of-53 shot attempts overall (54.7 percent) and continued their dominance on the boards. OU outrebounded the Bearcats 40-22 and through two games it owns an 82-36 edge.
Godbold scored 11 of OU’s first 20 points and Neal hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final 4 minutes of the first half to lift the Sooners to a 50-31 halftime lead.
“The game kind of got out of hand during the last 4 minutes of the first half,” Binghamton coach Al Walker said. “We got fatigued and the bigger, stronger guys made some plays.”
Binghamton (0-3) never made a run in the second half. Andre Heard, a senior from Oklahoma City, paced the Bearcats with a game-high 18 points.
Mike Gordon added 14.
The victory was OU’s second straight romp to start the season.
But Sampson believes his team has only given a small glimpse of how good it can be.
“The problem with basketball coaches is that we want to play the perfect game, and basketball is an imperfect game,” he said. “We won’t accept just playing good. I want us to play great.”
The Sooners next shot at perfection comes at 8 p.m. Saturday when Belmont comes to Lloyd Noble Center.
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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