OU makes strong opening statement
Men's basketball: Oklahoma 79, Oklahoma Christian 51
Clark has 18 points as Sooners cruise to exhibition victory in Capel's OU coaching debut

By Scott Wright

Published: November 1, 2006

NORMAN — In the end, Oklahoma simply had done what it was supposed to do — defeat the Oklahoma Christian Eagles.

The Sooners opened the 2006-07 men's basketball season with a 79-51 exhibition win over the NAIA Eagles on Tuesday night before an estimated crowd of 4,100 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

It was decisive and, at times, dominating.

And more than anything, it was another step in the learning process for coach Jeff Capel in his first time seeing his Sooners on the floor.

"When the lights come on, it can make some guys do some interesting things," Capel said. "I thought our guys did a good job of making good decisions."

The Sooners, often trying to run the floor on offense, had 19 assists and just six turnovers.

"We want to try to push it and get easy baskets, but we also really want to value the basketball," Capel said. "I count some of the easy misses we had as turnovers in my mind. We had about three or four of those."

As expected, Capel entrusted his starting positions to the veterans: Taylor Griffin, Michael Neal, David Godbold, Austin Johnson and Longar Longar.

It will be the veterans OU leans on the most this season. Freshmen Keith Clark, Tony Crocker and Bobby Maze displayed their talent in flashes, but their youth showed through just as much.

Clark seemed to struggle with his first taste of college basketball. The former Putnam City star calmed down to lead the Sooners with 18 points, but he had just two rebounds.

"Keith needs to rebound better," Capel said. "He had no defensive rebounds. Keith's a guy who can rebound and push the ball for us. We need him to do that."

Crocker, possibly the team's most-athletic player, offered the highlight-reel moment of the night with a one-handed, fast-break dunk over an OC defender with 6:20 left in the game.

The Eagles' Keith Harris led all scorers with 19 points.

Griffin was solid for the Sooners in all aspects of the game, contributing 10 points and seven rebounds while playing good defense.

"Coming into this game, I had no idea how we would execute," Griffin said. "I was pleased with the way we executed. There are always things we have to work on, but coming in and playing for a new coach in a completely new system, I think we did well."

If any major concern came out of Tuesday's exhibition, it was Griffin's exit with 4:20 to play when he fouled out.

The Sooners can't afford foul trouble, especially in the frontcourt. Griffin's final foul came near halfcourt as he tried to draw a charging foul.

OU's Nate Carter did not dress. The senior is nursing a pulled groin suffered during Monday's practice. He was the only OU player not to get in the game.