The offensive shots weren’t falling early for Oklahoma, but it never deterred Lon Kruger’s group defensively. And once the offense found its footing, the Sooners were ready to roll.
Led by the defense, OU was able to earn a 73-57 victory against previously undefeated North Texas on Tuesday evening at Lloyd Noble Center.
Senior center Jamuni McNeace led the way with 16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks and was a presence inside for the Mean Green to deal with all evening.
“It’s huge. It allows to apply some extra pressure to the guards,” guard Miles Reynolds said. “They know when they get to the rim they have to finish over Money at the rim. Coach always preaches that some times they’re gonna get by you. Just keep your hands up and make them make tough shots.”
It was important for McNeace to step up because for the first time this season, OU had to figure out a way to win without senior leader and top scorer Christian James.
Limited because of three fouls in the first half, James only had one point at the break before scoring some late buckets to finish with nine.
With James rendered ineffective, it was Reynolds there to pick up the slack. Playing a team-high 31 minutes, Reynolds finished a with a team-high 17 points.
A nip-and-tuck battle through the first 30 minutes, it was OU’s defense that carried the day late. UNT shot just 27.5 percent from the floor for the game and just 23.1 percent (6-26) from 3-point territory.
“When we hold a team to 27 percent from the field, I sure hope we win,” Reynolds said. “When we defend like that and have a stretch in the second half where we lock in defensively and go stop-score, stop-score, I don’t know if there’s too many teams in the country that can play 40 minutes with us.”
The Sooners get a week off as OU will play Notre Dame next Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. It does appear as though OU will be without backup center Kur Kuath, at least for a bit.
Head coach Lon Kruger said Kuath has been battling a back injury since before the season started, and it just hasn’t had time to recover.
Brady Manek pitched in with 10 points and eight rebounds and three steals.
Not a pretty offensive display, but Kruger will take it as the Sooners improve to 6-1.
“They’re tough. It was a rugged battle early,” Kruger said. “Both teams were playing extremely hard but couldn’t get anything going on either end offensively. Then in the second half I thought our guys attacked much more offensively, moved the ball better and guarded pretty well. Again, we’ve gotta learn from each opportunity. It’s always good to win and learn.”
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