Oklahoma Holds Off Mustangs, 50-47

DALLAS (AP) -- Seeing his team play without passion, intensity or substance left Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson shaking his head Tuesday night.

Good thing David Godbold snapped out of his shooting slump or the 12th-ranked Sooners really would have been in trouble.

After missing 16 of 17 shots over the last five games, Godbold hit consecutive 3-pointers to jolt Oklahoma out of a second-half rut, then made two free throws with 34 seconds left to help hold off SMU 50-47 in what was supposed to be a tuneup for conference play.

Statistics | Sooner Basketball Central

``I'm happy with the win, but disappointed with the effort,'' Sampson said.

Oklahoma (9-2) came out looking listless and hardly snapped out of it. Leading by seven at halftime, the Sooners failed to score the first 6:40 of the second half. Godbold's 3s put them back ahead with 7:48 left to play and they were up by five in the final minute.

But they couldn't put away the Mustangs (7-5), who were seeking their first victory over a ranked team since December 2003. SMU was shooting for overtime when Dez Willingham and Byron Hopkins missed long 3-pointers in the closing seconds.

The Sooners shot only 39 percent, scored their fewest points in 48 games and committed a season-high 19 turnovers, matching their total for the last two games. It took the shine off outrebounding SMU 41-21, holding the Mustangs to 32.7 percent shooting and taking a three-game winning streak into their Big 12 opener Saturday at Nebraska.

Sampson was surprised by his team's performance. He described recent practices as being so energetic they were like ``happy birthday, Fourth of July and Christmas morning all wrapped up into one.''

``This team desperately needs leadership,'' Sampson said. ``Coaches can fuel practice, but come game time, you've got to have kids that are more vocal, with more fire.''

Taj Gray led Oklahoma with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Bookout was held to nine points and seven rebounds.

Godbold scored eight points, matching his total for the last six games. His first 3-pointer ended a skid of 13 straight misses dating to Nov. 26, and this was only the second game he's made multiple 3s.

``It was a little bit of relief,'' he said. ``The coaches stuck by me. They kept my enthusiasm up.''

Willingham scored a career-high 20 points, making 4-of-10 on 3-pointers. The rest of the Mustangs were 1-of-10 behind the arc, with Hopkins going 1-of-7. He was 2-of-12 overall and scored nine points.

``It was like two movies - a horror movie on offense, but defensively, hey, one of the better ones. So you got a two-for-one,'' SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs said.

The Mustangs lost for only the second time in six games. They have a week off until playing their first-ever game in Conference USA, next Wednesday against Texas-El Paso.

Although the game was played on the SMU campus, Oklahoma had the support of about half the crowd. They spontaneously broke into the call-and-response chant of ``Boomer! Sooner!'' after a questionable call by the officials midway through the first half and again at halftime.

Appeasing fans, and recruits, in the Dallas area was a bonus for Sampson, who scheduled the game as a favor to Tubbs, one of his assistants from 2002-2004.

The game originally was to be played Wednesday night, but was changed to avoid competing with the Rose Bowl.

Maybe the date change had something to do with how out of whack both teams were in the first half. It was so sloppy that the teams combined for only one more basket (16) than turnovers (15). SMU missed its first seven shots, but was only down by one point after breaking through on a 3 by Hopkins.

The first half ended fittingly: Sampson called a timeout with 34 seconds left, and 31 on the shot clock, to set up a final play. But Austin Johnson wound up getting it blocked, leading to a shot clock violation. Sampson crossed his arms, exhaled and shot an exasperated look at the ceiling. After a timeout, SMU saw its last shot blocked, too - by Johnson.

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