Otega Oweh

Sophomore guard Otega Oweh during the game against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 10.

 Jenna Burress/OU Daily

Oklahoma (6-0) defeated No. 23 USC (4-2) 72-70 in a buzzer beater win Friday at the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.

A consistent shooting effort from the Sooners was led by junior guard Javian McCollum, redshirt junior forward John Hugley IV and a last second putback by sophomore guard Otega Oweh.

The trio combined for 48 points on 20-for-33 shooting.

OU is now 6-0 for the first time since 2015. The Sooners finished 2-0 and took home the tournament title after beating Iowa on Thursday in addition to USC.

Here are three takeaways from OU’s ranked win:

Hugley IV leads Sooners, nation in consistency

Hugley has been a staple of consistency for Oklahoma this season.

Through five games and 90 minutes, he ranked No. 4 on the College Basketball Analytics leaderboard with an 83.3 true shooting percentage.

That was evident against USC. Continuing to prove his prowess in both the paint and around the perimeter, Hugley was an offensive leader during the Sooners’ two-point win over the Trojans. He scored 14 for OU and made 4 of his 4 3-point attempts.

Hugley, who transferred from Pittsburgh, shot 12 of 54 during his three seasons with the Panthers. During his first season with the Sooners, the 6-foot-10, 275-pound post is 7 for 10.

His offensive effort was supported by McCollum and Oweh. McCollum, who was the Rady Children’s Invitational MVP, finished the game with a team-high 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting.

Oweh followed with a 16-point effort and capped off the game with a buzzer beater to beat OU’s first ranked opponent of the season.

3-point improvement

After struggling from the 3-point line against Iowa on Thursday, OU improved drastically from beyond the arc against USC.

During their matchup against the Hawkeyes, the Sooners shot 20% from the 3-point line, making 4 of their 20 shots from around the perimeter.

The game against the Trojans was a different story.

In the first half, OU made seven attempts from deep and finished the game 10-of-22 from deep. The improvement was led by Hugley with his 4 of 4 shooting effort and supported by McCollum and sophomore guard Milos Uzan.

Uzan has struggled this season, making 3 of 18 from beyond the arc and finishing 0 for 3 against Iowa but shot 2 of 5 from 3-point land against USC. McCollum also tallied two against the Trojans.

This season the Sooners have shot 31.3% from the three-point line. However, against USC, OU was able to shoot 45.5%. The 10 3-pointers from OU were the most of any game this season.

Nine first-half turnovers

Despite a strong effort from the Sooners against USC, they struggled with turnovers, especially in the first half.

Oklahoma turned the ball over nine times in the first period, giving the Trojans 13 points. In comparison, the Sooners scored four points off USC’s five mistakes.

The Sooners played a tighter game in the second half, surrendering six turnovers and allowing USC to score seven off the fumbles. This season, OU has averaged 11.6 turnovers per game and allowed 21.2 points off turnovers per game.

Oweh led the team with four turnovers, followed by Hugley’s three.

Next, Oklahoma will face Arkansas Pine Bluff (3-4) at 7 p.m. on Nov. 30 at McCasland Field House for a students-only game in Norman on ESPN+.

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