The Sooners picked up their fifth win of the season with an 82-53 victory over Sacramento State on Friday night in Lloyd Noble Center. The game was the first Oklahoma played without sophomore guard Calvin Newell, who informed coach Lon Kruger he will transfer at the end of the semester.

Newell was Oklahoma’s second leading scorer before leaving the team, averaging 13 points per game and providing an infusion of points off the bench. The Sooners managed more than 80 points for the fourth time in six games this season, but junior guard Steven Pledger said he will miss Newell’s presence on the court.

Newell would often spell Pledger during games and was instrumental in Oklahoma’s early success this season. Kruger said Newell’s minutes will likely fall to sophomore guard Tyler Neal and point guard Carl Blair, who have shown they can play alongside junior guard Sam Grooms.

Pledger finished the game with 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting. He was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range.

“Calvin was a big player on our team, coming off the bench and keeping the pressure up, and also hitting shots,” Pledger said. “It’s definitely hard, but we had to come together.”

Kruger said he was happy with his team’s play on the court, and its ability to play stout defense for 40 minutes. Oklahoma forced Sacramento State to shoot 19-of-43 from the field and to commit 22 turnovers.

Oklahoma shot 56.7 percent from the field and committed just five turnovers in the first half. It was able to run the floor at will because it also was able to pick up nine steals and force Sacramento State to commit 13 turnovers in the half, which contributed to its early lead.

The Sooners pick-pocketed the Hornets a total of 16 times.

Coming into the game, Sacramento State freshman Dylan Garrity averaged 7.0 assists per game and had a 3.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Those numbers will take a knock as the guard turned the ball over seven times and had only four assists against the Sooners’ defense.

Kruger said he was proud of his team’s ability to transfer what they’ve been coach to do in practice to competition. It showed up in the first minutes of the game.

Within the first five minutes of the game, Oklahoma had pulled ahead of Sacramento State 12-2. From there, its lead only grew. With 17:22 left in the first half, the Sooners put together an 8-0 run that gave them a 12-2 lead.

Oklahoma’s largest lead of the night came with 7:48 left to play up 73-40 over the Hornets. The Sooners did not trail in the game.

15 first half points from sophomore guard Cameron Clark — combined with the Hornets’ 9-of-21 shooting — propelled the Sooners ahead, 45-25, by the end of first half. Clark finished as the game’s leading scorer with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

“Coach Kruger just said to attack more,” Clark said. “I’ve been attacking in practice, and I feel like it’s given me a little bit more confidence to try to do it on the court.”

Unlike Clark, junior forward Andrew Fitzgerald came alive in the second half after scoring just four points in the first. Fitzgerald ended the game with 13 points and four rebounds.

“My teammates were getting me the ball, but I was making plays for my teammates because Cam was hot tonight, Steve was hot,” Fitzgerald said. “I just wanted to play defense and rebound for them, and do whatever it takes to win the game.”

Clark, Fitzgerald and Pledger will have to play big next week when Oklahoma plays host to Oral Roberts on Thursday and Arkansas on Saturday Dec. 10 in Lloyd Noble Center. But until then, Kruger is happy to keep coaching his men one day at a time, one play at a time.

“The good thing about this group is they really believe in how important it is to make progress every day, and they’re doing that not just in the game,” Kruger said. “They have done a great job in practice. Let’s continue that.”

Notes:

The Sooners stole from the Hornets 16 times. Those individual acts of theft were the most since Dec. 7, 2008 when Oklahoma pick-pocketed the Sooners16 vs. Tulsa.

The Sooners shot 55 percent from 3-point range, which is its best mark since shooting 56.5 percent — 13-of-23 — against Nichols State.