University of Oklahoma Athletics
University of Oklahoma
12-1,0-0Big 12
Monmouth
7-6,0-0CAA
Men's Hoops Caps Non-Conference Play With 72-56 Victory Over Monmouth
December 31, 2023 | Men's Basketball
NORMAN (AP) — Jalon Moore scored 21 points and No. 12 Oklahoma concluded its non-conference schedule with a 72-56 win over Monmouth on Sunday.
Otega Owen scored 13 points, Javian McCollum added 11 and Milos Uzan had 10 for the Sooners (12-1), who shot 48.2% from the field after a slow start.
OU hosts Iowa State on Saturday to open Big 12 Conference play for the final time before moving to the Southeastern Conference next season.
"We haven't gotten ahead of ourselves," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "I thought these guys did a great job of one game in a row. The biggest game is the one right in front of you. Now we know they can't take nonconference to the bank.
"We know we're the best league in the country. We know every game is going to be an absolute barn-burner. Now it's even crazier. You add Houston, Cincinnati, BYU and Central Florida and how they're doing. So, it's going to be night in and night out."
Oklahoma faced Monmouth, a member of the Coastal Athletic Association, for the first time.
Jack Collins led Monmouth (7-6) with 14 points and Nakita Konstantynovskyi, a transfer from Tulsa, added 11 points. The Hawks shot 36.2% from the field and were held without a field goal for the game's final 5:10.
Monmouth hadn't played since defeating Manhattan on Dec. 21.
"Our plan was to try to keep the best guys on their team from having big nights, and I thought we executed that in the first half," Monmouth coach King Rice said. "So proud of my team. We gave them a run, but they came out strong in the second half."
Both teams shot poorly during a low-scoring first half. Oklahoma, which shot 38%, trailed 25-23 with 2:02 left, prompting a timeout.
The Sooners finished with a flurry after that, getting consecutive 3-pointers from Uzan, McCollum and Oweh to take a 32-28 lead at the break.
OU extended the lead to 36-28 early in the second half before going cold and being held scoreless for four minutes.
During that stretch, Monmouth went on a 14-5 run to take a 42-41 lead on a dunk by Jaret Valencia at the 13:08 mark.
Oklahoma responded in a big way, outscoring the Hawks 22-4 over the next eight minutes. The run was punctuated by two dunks and a 3-pointer by Moore, putting OU ahead 63-46 with six minutes to go.
"It was really our team bringing the energy on the defensive end, so we were able to get out and run and get transition points," said Moore, who made 8 of 10 shots, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, and had six rebounds. "So that created a spark and we kept running with it."
