By John Shinn
Oklahoma may not be big, but the Sooners played that way Tuesday night.
The post tandem of true freshman Keith Clark and junior Longar Longar combined for 33 points in OU’s 79-51 exhibition victory over Oklahoma Christian at Lloyd Noble Center.
Post play has been the biggest concern coming into Jeff Capel’s first season as Sooner coach. OU went 20-9 last season, but heads into this one without its low-post anchors from the last two seasons — Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray.
It didn’t seem to matter much. Clark scored 18 points while Longar added 15 and six rebounds.
“The biggest thing we talked about was going out there with confidence,” Longar said. “We didn’t want to worry about making mistakes or anything like that. If you make a mistake, go down there and make another play.”
Most eyes, however, were on Capel, who was making his live competition debut on the OU bench.
For the most part, he liked what he saw.
“I thought we did some really good things tonight,” he said.
The Sooners, who tried to force an up-tempo style, only turned the ball over six times, while turning in 19 assists.
Michael Neal’s jumper in the lane started a 13-2 run. It was finished by David Godbold’s steal and two-handed jam that put the Sooners up 15-6.
OU extended its lead with a 10-0 spurt that included 3-pointers by Godbold and Taylor Griffin and lay-ups from Neal and Clark and led 43-22 at halftime.
The Sooners weren’t afraid to shoot from long range. They went 9-for-22 from beyond the arc with Godbold, Austin Johnson and Clark each hitting two 3-pointers.
Neal, who was the Big 12’s best 3-point shooter last season, was held to only two attempts beyond the arc. That didn’t bother Capel.
“I want Mike to be a playmaker for us,” he said. “I thought he did a good job of leading us and that was the most important thing.”
Keith Harris led the Eagles with 19 points, while Charles Baldwin tossed in 12 and Jason Taylor added 10.
Godbold finished with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Taylor Griffin added 10. Even Griffin was somewhat surprised with how well OU played .
“Coming into this game I had no idea how we were going to execute,” he said. “I thought overall we did a pretty good job. We were able to execute most of our plays.”
OU was without Nate Carter. The senior forward was held out after being poked in the eye and pulling his groin in practice earlier this week.
The Sooners conclude exhibition play at 2 p.m. Sunday against Central Missouri back at Lloyd Noble Center. The regular season beings Nov. 10 against Norfolk State.
After one exhibition game, Capel thinks the Sooners are heading in the right direction.
“We’re pleased with the win,” he said. “We have a lot of things to work on. We’ll get back and show some tape, start working, trying to get better.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
