Oklahoma (4-0) defeated East Texas A&M (1-5) 84-56 on Thursday at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
Thursday’s contest was the first time these two teams competed against each other. The Sooners’ win was their final tune-up game before heading to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament from Nov. 27-29.
Here are three takeaways from the Sooners’ win:
Duke Miles ties season-high in first half
In the Sooners’ last outing against Stetson, graduate guard Kobe Elvis lit up the score sheet with 19 points in the first half. On Thursday against East Texas A&M, redshirt senior guard Duke Miles had his own hot start to bolster the Sooners.
Miles notched 14 points in the first half on 5-7 shooting and 3-4 from three. The 14 points from Miles tied his season-high, which he scored in OU’s first game of the season against Lindenwood.
Miles’ 14 points set the tone in the first half for a Sooners offense that struggled at times to generate points. The redshirt senior guard finished the game with 19 points on 7-13 shooting and 3-6 from three.
Duke is too smooth with it 😮💨📺 » SECN+ | @Dukemiles10 pic.twitter.com/S9VAlZxYTS
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) November 22, 2024
“We were moving a little slow in that first half, so I just wanted to bring a spark,” Miles said after the game. “I just wanted to bring energy and intensity and shots started to fall for me.”
Jeremiah Fears gets first career start
Just four games into his collegiate career, freshman guard Jeremiah Fears got his first career start in an OU uniform. Fears got the start against the Lions in place of senior transfer guard Glenn Taylor Jr.
Fears got off to a good start in the first half, putting up 11 points on 4-5 shooting to go along with two assists and one steal. Those 11 points were second only to Miles in the half. The freshman guard finished the game with a game-high 20 points on 7-10 shooting with five assists and three steals.
In the three games prior to this one, Fears averaged 14 points on 45.5% shooting. Fears played in all of the Sooners first three games and has averaged 25 minutes per contest.
“He brings it every day in practice,” senior transfer forward Glenn Taylor Jr. said after the game. “He has a lot of potential and he isn’t afraid to go out and fight. And that is huge for our team.”
“He makes a lot of things happen when he’s on the court,” head coach Porter Moser said. “I thought he did a lot of great things and played a solid game.”
Sooners let it fly from deep
Porter Moser has said he wants to utilize the three-point shot this season. On Thursday against the Lions, the Sooners elected to utilize the three, although they didn’t connect on many.
Through the first three games, OU averaged 26.2 threes per game. Against East Texas A&M, OU fired 32 threes, only connecting on 10 of them (31.3%). Taylor Jr. and graduate transfer guard Kobe Elvis led the way with seven threes taken, with Taylor Jr. hitting four and Elvis not making a three.
Senior forward Jalon Moore fired five threes, making one. Fears shot four, also only making one.
“I told the guys at halftime after we went 3-15 from three to keep shooting it,” Moser said. “I thought all of our looks were good looks, they just weren’t falling. We got a few more to go down in the second half.”
Next, OU heads to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. OU’s first game will be against Providence at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Nov. 27.
This story was edited by Daniel Homrok
