Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears responded from Tuesday’s scoreless performance against Texas A&M with a team-high 21 points as the Sooners blew out No. 24 Vanderbilt 97-67 on Saturday in Norman, Okla.
The Sooners (16-5, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) took their first lead just under two minutes into the second half as part of a 23-0 run to take a 59-42 advantage with 13:24 left in regulation.
Oklahoma shot 63.2 percent from the floor — including 72.7 percent when it outscored Vanderbilt 61-27 in the second half — and 55 percent (11 of 20) from 3 for the game. Fears, a freshma guard who was 0-for-5 from the field in the 75-68 loss at No. 13 Texas A&M, was 8-for-12 on Saturday. Teammate Jalon Moore scored 19 points and Dalton Forsythe 14.
The Sooners outrebounded the Commodores 39-24, and they dominated the game’s final 25 minutes, holding Vanderbilt to 1 of 12 on 3-pointers in the second half.
Devin McGlockton (game-high 22 points) and Jason Edwards (21) led the Commodores (16-5, 4-4) in scoring but had little help.
The Sooners got a red-hot start to the second half, hitting their first nine shots, including four from 3, to flip the game quickly.
Oklahoma took its first lead of the day with 18:21 left on Brycen Goodine’s 3 from the left side, erasing what had been a 13-point deficit.
Goodine hit a 3 from the other side and then Moore added one for a 10-point Sooner advantage.
The 23-point run finally ended when Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Carey hit a layup with 13:06 left, cutting the Sooners’ lead to 59-44.
Oklahoma later went on a 12-0 run, highlighted by Moore drive along the left baseline, a spin-move in the lane and a short bank shot that became a three-point play.
Vanderbilt led 40-36 at the break thanks to 16 from McGlockton and 14 from Edwards, while Fears’s nine led Oklahoma.
The Commodores led from the jump in the first half and looked like they might be the team that would run away with a win until the half’s final minutes.
But a flurry of Vanderbilt turnovers, combined with the Sooners picking up the defensive intensity, led to a 9-0 Oklahoma run in the final minutes. The Commodores’ Edwards hit a pull-up jumper on the left baseline from just behind the backboard with 2 seconds left.
Four Commodores picked up two first-half fouls, including McGlockton. That, and the fact that Jaylen Carey — Vanderbilt’s best front-court reserve — didn’t play it in the first half due to a coach’s decision, helped the Sooners to a 19-13 first-half edge on the boards.
