NORMAN — If there's anything Oklahoma struggled with last season, it was winning close games in conference play. In fact, four of the Sooners' losses to Big 12 opponents came by three or fewer points.

That appeared to be possible again with this year's squad on Saturday.

Despite leading for nearly the entire game, the Sooners struggled to put Iowa State away. And at the 4:10 mark, two Cyclone free throws put them ahead 58-57 for only their second lead of the game.

How would the Sooners respond?

That's when Javian McCollum went to work.

On the following possession, he found Sam Godwin for a dunk. Next, he found Le'Tre Darthard for an open 3-pointer. Then, again he found Godwin for another dunk.

Those three-straight possessions gave the Sooners a six-point lead and led to a 14-5 run to close out the game, as they opened conference play with a 71-63 win over the Cyclones at the Lloyd Noble Center.

"I think there was never huge runs, but like both teams were answering it," OU coach Porter Moser said. "Like for instance, they came out of half and tied it and I was close to calling a timeout and I didn’t and then we got it right back to five again. Then we scored a couple of times. I think it was a back-and-forth against two high-level teams.

I think the biggest run might have been that last four minutes getting that separation. And that’s what this league is going to be. But you’ve got to have resolve. You’ve got to come down and got to get stops. If they get you, you’ve got to come down and have a good offensive possession... I thought both teams were answering the bell."

The win improves the No. 11 Sooners to 13-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.

Here's two takeaways and notes from the victory:

The Sooners held a lead for over 35 minutes. A key reason why was the play of their two point guards.

The Cyclones continually doubled both McCollum and Uzan in the pick and roll, and both responded by making plays for their teammates. Both finished with five assists each, and the Sooners finished with 17 assists on 24 made baskets.

"Their ball-screen defense, their fives are really mobile so they can hedge, they can come on up and their guards are physical," Moser said. "It makes it real hard. I guarantee those two guys are worn out right now because they got worked really hard with their ball-screen coverage. I felt that those guys did a good job. They each had five assists again. Both of them had huge plays to help us win.

McCollum finished with a team-high 15 points. It was a big bounce-back game for Uzan, who finished with 12 points, four rebounds and five assists.

But none of the players were bigger than McCollum's three assists on consecutive possessions.

“Javian’s a great point guard," Uzan said. "He’s out there making the right plays as well. I think they were so pressed up on him and he was able to make the right reads late in the game which was big time for us.”

All season Moser has talked about having eight starters, with Rivaldo Soares, Le'Tre Darthard and John Hugley all playing big minutes off the bench.

On Saturday, their collective impact was huge.

Darthard recovered from his 1-of-7 shooting performance against Monmouth and responded with 11 points (3/4 shooting). Hugley added six points, a rebound and two assists.

But the biggest piece was Soares, who finished with five points and a team-high nine rebounds in 29 minutes. His rebounding was crucial in helping the Sooners close out defensive stops.

“I’m trying to get a rebound every time I’m in the game," Soares said. "They happened to be falling my way today and I was going to get ‘em. Some nights I don’t score a whole lot of points so I gotta get myself going another way.”

— The Sooners' defense held Iowa State to 63 points, their second-lowest total of the season. A big reason was the team's first-half defense, as the Cyclones scored just 26 points on 12 of 31 shooting (38.7%) in the opening 20 minutes.

OU particularly was effective limiting Tamin Lipsey (4 points, 1/10 shooting) and Keshon Gilbert (6 points). The duo averaged a combined 30 points per game coming into the contest.

— Sam Godwin continues to make a big impact this season. In 21 minutes, he finished with 10 points, two blocks, a steal and six rebounds, with three of them coming off the offensive glass.

"Sam just gives you energy, too," Moser said. "Like the offensive rebound putbacks. The extra possessions. He can block a shot, protect the rim. So same thing he’s been giving us all year. Tons of valuable minutes."

— The Sooners shot 10 of 25 (40%) from the 3-point line, with five different players making a triple. Iowa State shot just 3 of 16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc.

— Next up: The Sooners travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on TCU at 8 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2).