OU Beats Liberty Behind Longar's 21

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- All that extra time at practice is paying off for Oklahoma's Longar Longar.

The 6-foot-11 junior scored 21 points for the second-highest total of his career to lead Oklahoma to a 74-48 win against Liberty on Thursday night. Longar has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the second time in his career, helping Oklahoma to a 2-0 start.

Longar never scored as many as 10 points as a sophomore, and had half as many turnovers (10) as he had field goals.

But with the departure of senior forwards Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout, he got a chance to move into the starting lineup.

"What you're seeing is a guy who's getting more confident each day, you're seeing a guy that has some tools but has really worked," said Oklahoma first-year coach Jeff Capel. "The biggest thing is he saw an opportunity and he didn't just think it was going to happen. He worked to make himself a better player."

Capel said he saw potential in Longar in individual workouts but told him he needed to get in better shape and start playing with the energy he did in high school. To hone his skills, Longar has been taking part in extra agility drills with Oklahoma's strength trainers, in addition to normal practice.

"The first thing he told me is I want you to play with confidence and not worry about making mistakes," Longar said.

That's made a world of difference for Longar, who averaged only 7.6 minutes in 50 games through his sophomore season.

It was most evident when he capped an 8-0 Oklahoma run in the second half by getting fouled on a turnaround, fallaway jumper. He responded by slapping a low five with Capel, then going to the line to make his free throw and extend the lead to 54-31.

"I'm just excited for him. It's exciting when you see a guy work hard and do all the right things, and good things and positive things happen for him," Capel said. "I was just excited to see that.

"It was a big-time move, it was a hell of a move and the fact that he finished it, got fouled and for him to show that emotion, we want him to show it. It wasn't just me, it was everyone."

The Sooners pulled away with a 21-2 run in the first half that freshman Tony Crocker started with nine straight points, including back-to-back dunks and a three-point play.

The Flames went more than 13 minutes without a field goal, and the drought didn't end until Alex McLean's layup with 17 seconds left cut Oklahoma's halftime lead to 29-12.

Liberty got back within 46-31 after Larry Blair scored five points in a row, but Oklahoma came back with the eight-point run capped by Longar's three-point play.

Crocker finished with 18 points, Nate Carter scored 10 and Taylor Griffin added nine points and a career-high 12 rebounds. The Sooners led by as many as 29 points.

Blair, who averaged a league-high 24.2 points in Big South games last season, started out 1-for-12 as the Flames fell behind. He finished 8-for-23 with 23 points, and McLean scored 13.

"The thing that we didn't want him to do, and we did a really good job, we didn't let him be efficient getting his points. He had 23 points, but it took him 23 shots to get it," Capel said. "I thought that was really good."

Liberty lost its sixth straight season opener. The Flames made 4-of-23 shots and committed 12 of their 17 turnovers in the first half.

The Sooners, who played their first two games with top returning scorer Michael Neal suspended because of a secondary NCAA rule violation, will get him back for their game Monday against Memphis at the Maui Invitational.

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