Monday, November 6
Norman, Okla./Lloyd Noble Center
8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
Central Michigan University
0-1,0-0MAC
59
at
89
Oklahoma
1-0,0-0Big 12
1
2
F
Central Mich.
21
38
59
Oklahoma
40
49
89
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Men's Basketball Falls at Oklahoma in Season Opener
11/6/2023 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Two Chippewas—Anthony Pritchard (11) and Cayden Vasko (10) reach double figures; Central Michigan to host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday at noon.
NORMAN, Okla.—Javian McCollum scored 19 points and Otega Oweh added 18 as Oklahoma shot 56 percent from the floor and 45 percent from 3-point range in registering an 89-59 win over Central Michigan Monday night at the Lloyd Noble Center. The game marked Central Michigan's 2023-24 season opener.
Central Michigan hosts Louisiana-Monroe for its home opener on Saturday. The game is being played as part of the MAC-SBC Challenge. Tipoff is at noon at McGuirk Arena.
Point guard Anthony Pritchard led Central Michigan with 11 points, guard Cayden Vasko finished with 10, and guard Paul McMillan IV finished with eight points. All 10 CMU players who saw action scored in the game. Veterans Brian Taylor (2 points) and Markus Harding (5 points) combined for just seven points in the game.
Oklahoma converted 28 of its 50 field goal attempts and nine of its 20 3-point attempts. The Sooners also shot 80 percent from the free throw line (24-30).
In contrast, CMU hit just 19.0 percent of its 3-point attempts (4-21) and 35.9 percent of its field goal attempts (23-64). The Chippewas committed 24 fouls to Oklahoma's 14 and the Sooners hit 24-30 free throws to CMU's 9-13.
"This game came down to toughness," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "They were the tougher team tonight. We accepted it tonight and we didn't put up enough resistance. The end result is when you're the tougher, more aggressive team, you're going to shoot more free throws, you will commit less fouls. When you look at those stats, they dominated all of those areas because they were the more aggressive team."
Oklahoma took control of the game midway through the first half with a 13-0 run fueled by four CMU turnovers. Trailing 12-10, Uzan Milos tied the game on a diving layup. Rivaldo Soares gave the Sooners the lead for good with a 3-pointer, Le'Tre Darthard made it 18-12 with another 3-pointer, and Sam Godwin followed with two free throws. After Jalon Moore hit a free throw, he scored on an alley-oop play to make it 23-12 Oklahoma with 9:31 to play in the first half.
Oklahoma led 40-21 at halftime after CMU committed 12 turnovers and converted just 1-9 3-pointers in the first half.
Central Michigan went on a 6-0 run early in the second half to cut OU's lead to 15 points (42-27). CMU cut the lead down to as few as 14 points, but couldn't get any closer.
"We've got a lot of young guys, but they've got a lot of older portal guys. We got off to a good start in the second half and we just didn't sustain it. They're a good, tough team, they're a veteran team and they didn't panic."
Barbee said he saw some positives.
"We saw some good things," Barbee said. "Some of the young guys did some good things, We've got to speed up the learning curve. We've got to grow up quickly with this young team and we've got to get our veteran guys to play better."
Central Michigan hosts Louisiana-Monroe for its home opener on Saturday. The game is being played as part of the MAC-SBC Challenge. Tipoff is at noon at McGuirk Arena.
Point guard Anthony Pritchard led Central Michigan with 11 points, guard Cayden Vasko finished with 10, and guard Paul McMillan IV finished with eight points. All 10 CMU players who saw action scored in the game. Veterans Brian Taylor (2 points) and Markus Harding (5 points) combined for just seven points in the game.
Oklahoma converted 28 of its 50 field goal attempts and nine of its 20 3-point attempts. The Sooners also shot 80 percent from the free throw line (24-30).
In contrast, CMU hit just 19.0 percent of its 3-point attempts (4-21) and 35.9 percent of its field goal attempts (23-64). The Chippewas committed 24 fouls to Oklahoma's 14 and the Sooners hit 24-30 free throws to CMU's 9-13.
"This game came down to toughness," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "They were the tougher team tonight. We accepted it tonight and we didn't put up enough resistance. The end result is when you're the tougher, more aggressive team, you're going to shoot more free throws, you will commit less fouls. When you look at those stats, they dominated all of those areas because they were the more aggressive team."
Oklahoma took control of the game midway through the first half with a 13-0 run fueled by four CMU turnovers. Trailing 12-10, Uzan Milos tied the game on a diving layup. Rivaldo Soares gave the Sooners the lead for good with a 3-pointer, Le'Tre Darthard made it 18-12 with another 3-pointer, and Sam Godwin followed with two free throws. After Jalon Moore hit a free throw, he scored on an alley-oop play to make it 23-12 Oklahoma with 9:31 to play in the first half.
Oklahoma led 40-21 at halftime after CMU committed 12 turnovers and converted just 1-9 3-pointers in the first half.
Central Michigan went on a 6-0 run early in the second half to cut OU's lead to 15 points (42-27). CMU cut the lead down to as few as 14 points, but couldn't get any closer.
"We've got a lot of young guys, but they've got a lot of older portal guys. We got off to a good start in the second half and we just didn't sustain it. They're a good, tough team, they're a veteran team and they didn't panic."
Barbee said he saw some positives.
"We saw some good things," Barbee said. "Some of the young guys did some good things, We've got to speed up the learning curve. We've got to grow up quickly with this young team and we've got to get our veteran guys to play better."
—CMU—
Team Stats
CMU
OU
FG%
.359
.560
3FG%
.190
.450
FT%
.692
.800
RB
34
34
TO
17
13
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
C
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