Hoops: Sooners’ huge second-half run propels them past No. 24 Vanderbilt

NORMAN — The second half started with an alley oop from Jeremiah Fears to Sam Godwin. Duke Miles followed that up with a 3-pointer.

Then Brycen Goodine made a 3-pointer.

Fears followed that with a layup.

Jalon Fears and Goodine made back-to-back 3-pointers.

Godwin made a dunk. Fears again made another layup.

By the time Glenn Taylor made a layup, it capped off a 21-0 run for the Sooners to open the second half. The Sooners made nine consecutive shots during that stretch while holding No. 24-ranked Vanderbilt scores, flipping a four-point halftime deficit into a 17-point lead.

The offensive simply found a rhythm, the defense tightened up and the Sooners rode that momentum to an 97-67 win over the Commodores Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

That second-half run really was a continuation of the way the Sooners ended the first half. With Vanderbilt leading by 11 points with 3:30 before halftime, the Sooners closed the first half on a 9-2 run that was punctuated by a 3-pointer from Luke Northweather with 28 seconds to go.

Combining that with their second-half run, that stretch saw the Sooners outscore Vanderbilt 30-4. That proved to be the run the Sooners needed to find their footing in a game they had to win.

With the win, the Sooners improve to 16-5 on the season and 3-5 in SEC play.

— Vanderbilt led by as many as 12 points in the first half and went into half with 42 points on 47% shooting from the floor and 43% shooting from the 3-point line.

But OU’s defense was significantly better in the second half. Vanderbilt scored just 27 points after halftime while shooting just 30% from the field.

After trailing 42-38 at halftime, the Sooners outscored Vanderbilt 61-27 in the second half.

— The Sooners were remarkably efficient offensively. They shot 63% from the field (36/57) and 55% from 3 (11/20).

In the second half? The Sooners scored 61 points while shooting a blistering 73% from the field and 58% from the 3-point line.

— It was turnovers that killed Oklahoma in the first half. The Sooners coughed the ball up 11 times, which led to 10 Vanderbilt points.

The Sooners completely flipped that script in the second half. They committed just six turnovers after halftime while scoring 15 points off of 10 second-half turnovers for Vanderbilt.

— The Sooners won the rebounding battle 39-24, a huge bounce back after they were outrebounded by 28 against Texas A&M.

— All eyes were going to be on Jeremiah Fears after his dud against Texas A&M, when he was held scoreless while missing all five of his shot attempts.

This was the bounce-back effort the Sooners needed, and it started early. Fears scored seven of the team’s first eight points, and that carried through the rest of the game. He finished with a team-high 21 points while shooting an efficient 8-of-12 from the floor, adding six rebounds, four assists and three steals. He finished with a plus-minus of +22.

When Fears plays like this, the Sooners are a lot tougher to beat.

— Dayton Forsythe continues to be a genuine difference-maker off the bench. In one particular sequence at the end of the first half, Forsythe forced a jump ball defensively, drove and made a layup, then stripped a Vanderbilt player that resulted in a turnover. It was a big reason why Oklahoma ended the half on a 9-2 run.

Forsythe — who finished with 14 points, three rebounds and three steals — wasn’t even in the rotation to begin conference play. But he’s now logged at least 22 minutes in the last two games and has become an indispensable cog in the Sooners’ machine.

He was a big reason why the Sooners held an 32-10 advantage in bench scoring against Vanderbilt.

— Vanderbilt guard Jason Edwards was on a heater to start the game, making four of his first five shots. But the Sooners held him in check, as he made just three of final 15 shots. He finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting.

— This was a significantly important victory for the Sooners, who face No. 1 Auburn (8 p.m. Tuesday, SEC Network) and No. 8 Tennessee next week.

Not an OUInsider.com premium member? Sign up today to get loads of inside information on Oklahoma football, softball, basketball, and recruiting, all for just a few dollars a month. Click HERE to get started!

Follow us on Twitter @OUInsider and on Instagram @ouinsiderofficial!

Subscribe on YouTube by clicking here for daily video content on all things Oklahoma!