Sooners roll past UTRGV 91-72 on Manek's career night
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Wanting a sharp 業績／成果 after four so-so 遠出s, Brady Manek and Oklahoma produced one Monday night against Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
Manek, a junior 今後, 得点する／非難する／２０d a career-high 29 points and grabbed seven 回復するs and Oklahoma 巡航するd to a 91-72 勝利，勝つ over the Vaqueros in the Sooners´ penultimate nonconference game of the basketball season.
Kur Kuath 追加するd 17 points, eight 回復するs and two 封鎖するd 発射s and Austin Reaves 得点する／非難する／２０d 12 points for Oklahoma (10-3), which used its かなりの size advantage to 支配する inside against UTRGV, 記録，記録的な／記録するing eight dunks while building a 50-32 halftime lead.
Oklahoma outrebounded the Vaqueros 48-28 and 発射 50.8% from the field while matching its season high for points and winning its 17th straight nonconference home game. Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said the Sooners had "a lot of good plays made for each other, a good attack. I thought the activity on both ends was pretty good. It was 広大な／多数の／重要な to see us get off to a 広大な／多数の／重要な start." Jordan Jackson led UTRGV (4-9) with 21 points while Leslie Varner 追加するd 19. The Vaqueros have only one 勝利，勝つ this season against an NCAA 分割 I 敵 and fell to 0-6 かつてない against Oklahoma. Oklahoma played without its 主要な scorer, Kristian Doolittle, but the Sooners didn´t seem to 行方不明になる him much. His 交替／補充 in the starting 顔触れ, Kuath, had four dunks and 10 points in the first five minutes as the Sooners quickly built a 17-5 lead. The Vaqueros were within 31-26 after a 3-pointer by Varner with 6:51 left in the first half, but Manek 点火（する）d a 12-2 Oklahoma run with a pair of dunks and finished it with a 3-pointer that made it 43-28. Manek´s 18 first-half points matched the most by an Oklahoma player this season. UTRGV pulled within 62-46 with 14:06 left on a 3-pointer by Varner, but Manek 得点する／非難する／２０d five points in an 11-0 run by the Sooners to put the game away.
"It was a lot of fun," said Manek, who went 8 of 13 from the field, 含むing 4 of 8 from 3-point 範囲. "I had a really good stretch there. The guards 設立する me a lot when I was in the 地位，任命する or in the 選ぶ-and-pop. I 発射 the ball 井戸／弁護士席 tonight." Manek´s previous career high was 28 points, 始める，決める Jan. 3, 2018, against Oklahoma 明言する／公表する. BIG PICTURE UTRGV: After 直面するing a pair of Big 12 会議／協議会 対抗者s in Texas Tech and Oklahoma in their last two games, the Vaqueros should be 用意が出来ている for Western 運動競技の 会議／協議会 play, which will begin later this week. They´re also looking 今後 to playing at home for the first time since Dec. 6. After a game at California Baptist, UTRGV will host Missouri-Kansas City on Jan. 9 and Chicago 明言する／公表する on Jan. 11. "I hope our players know if they play the 権利 way we can play with anyone in our league," UTRGV coach Lew Hill said. "If they defend and move the ball we have a chance to 勝利，勝つ every night from here on out." Oklahoma: After two 狭くする 勝利，勝つs (by a 連合させるd three points) and two losses (to Wichita 明言する／公表する and Creighton) in their last four games, the Sooners needed a 支配的な 業績／成果 before 直面するing the Big 12 gantlet. The lopsided 得点する／非難する／２０ looks even more impressive when compared with Texas Tech, which 追跡するd UTRGV at halftime in Lubbock, Texas, on Dec. 21 before the Red Raiders won 68-58.
DOOLITTLE OUT Doolittle, a 上級の 今後 who is 普通の／平均（する）ing 16.6 points per game, sat out for what Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger called a "衝突 of team 利益／興味s." Doolittle is 推定する／予想するd 支援する later this week against Kansas 明言する／公表する. Kuath made his first start for the Sooners in Doolittle´s place and fared 井戸／弁護士席, going 6 of 10 from the field. Kuath entered 普通の／平均（する）ing 2.5 points per game. COACHING CONNECTION Hill is in his fourth season with the Vaqueros after spending 12 seasons as an assistant for Kruger, six of those at Oklahoma. The 関係 is strong enough that Kruger - who began his 長，率いる-coaching career at Texas-Pan American, a forerunner of what is now UTRGV - took the Sooners to open the 2018-19 season at UTRGV, a rarity for a major-会議／協議会 program. Kruger i s a member of the UTRGV 運動競技の Hall of Fame. "It meant a lot to me," Hill said of Oklahoma scheduling the home-and-home series with the Vaqueros. "I don´t know if it meant as much to my team as it did to me. He is family. He is a friend. He´s a 助言者. He´s everything to me. First time I´ve been 支援する, 招待するing us 支援する here after he （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to our place when we opened the 円形競技場 is something that not many coaches, if any, would ever do that. It was a 特権." UP NEXT UTRGV: Will open WAC play at California Baptist on Thursday. Oklahoma: Will open Big 12 play at home vs. Kansas 明言する／公表する on Saturday.
