Sooners Surge in Second Half, Beat Ole Miss 86-70 to Start SEC Play

Saturday, January 3

Norman, Okla.

2:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

11-3,1-0SEC

Ole Miss

8-6,0-1SEC

Team	1	2	F
Ole Miss	41	29	70
Oklahoma	43	43	86

Box Score (PDF)

Xzayvier Brown shooting a jump shot against Ole Miss

Brown paced the Sooners with 23 points Saturday.

Sooners Surge in Second Half, Beat Ole Miss 86-70 to Start SEC Play

January 03, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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NORMAN — The Oklahoma men's basketball team outshot Ole Miss 52% to 38% from the field and committed just seven turnovers in a convincing 86-70 home win to start SEC action Saturday. The Rebels had not surrendered more than 77 points in a game this season.

OU guard Xzayvier Brown continued his stellar play with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and center Mohamed Wague turned in one of his best overall outings with 10 points, a career-high 15 rebounds, three assists and a career-high-tying three blocked shots.

For the Sooners, who improved to 11-3 overall, it was their ninth victory in the last 10 games. The Rebels fell to 8-6 overall.

Brown went 4 for 5 from 3-point range and didn't commit a turnover in his 25 minutes despite feeling under the weather. It was his fifth straight outing of at least 18 points and fourth of at least 20 during the stretch.

Guard Nijel Pack and forward Tae Davis each scored 15 points. Pack, who did not convert a 3-pointer for the first time this season (he was 0 for 3), was 7 for 8 from inside the arc and added five rebounds and two assists. Davis was 5 for 8 from the field and 4 for 5 from the free throw line, and handed out a game-high and career-high-tying six assists.

Forward Kuol Atak came off the bench to register 14 points in 22 minutes on the strength of 4-for-9 3-point shooting. He's made 10 triples over the last two games.

Both teams started hot from the field, with Ole Miss making seven of its first 10 shots and OU draining eight of its first 12. The Sooners trailed 24-21 before going on an 11-0 run to take an eight-point lead with 6:54 remaining in the first half. The spurt featured an Atak driving slam and a 3-pointer.

After Ole Miss ended a 7:20 scoreless stretch in which it missed 12 straight shots, Atak nailed another 3 — from six feet behind the line — to put OU up 35-26 for its largest lead of the half. The Rebels responded with a 14-6 run to knot the score at 38 before the Sooners took a 43-41 halftime lead.

Brown and Atak each hit two early treys in the second half to push OU's advantage to 59-51, only to see Ole Miss cut it to a 65-62 game with 8:08 remaining. That's when the Sooners took control for good, getting another 3 from Brown and making five free throws for an 8-0 run and a 73-62 lead with 5:26 to go.

OU kept getting stops and racking up points in the paint, ballooning its lead to 16 (82-66) with 2:26 left. It ended the game on a 23-10 run over the last 8:30.

The Sooners committed six first-half turnovers but had only one in the second half. They've committed single-digit turnovers in eight of the last 12 games, their first time to accomplish that feat in at least the last 30 years. For comparison, OU had six single-digit-turnover games all of last season.

Ole Miss, which entered the game averaging 7.4 3-point makes per contest, went 9 for 15 from behind the arc in the first half but just 1 for 11 in the second. The Sooners finished 11 for 28 from deep (39.3%), their ninth outing of at least 10 treys and fifth in the last six games.

Oklahoma outrebounded the Rebels 40-33, posted a 36-18 advantage in paint points and blocked six shots.

Ole Miss freshman guard Patton Pinkins scored a game-high 25 points. He was 9 for 11 from the field and 4 for 6 from 3-point range.

OU is back in action Wednesday when it plays at Mississippi State at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by SEC Network.