It had been nearly nine months since Oklahoma senior Brady Manek had played in a basketball game, and he let everybody know he’s ready for a magical season.

Manek set a career high in three-pointers made as the Sooners rolled to a 105-66 win vs. UTSA on Thursday night in their first game of the season.

“It's been a really long time since we got to play,” Manek said. “I thought we came out good today. We came out and hit them first. That hadn't happened with us in a while. It was good to see us come out first and have them down at half and come back at half and do it again.

“It was just fun. My teammates were finding me. I got a few from Mo, a few from Trey, a few from Austin. Everyone was sharing the ball tonight. It was just a good game overall. I think we played well. We had guys going to the hole that usually don't do that. We had guys making shots that have been struggling. It was a motivation-type thing and got everyone's confidence up.”

Manek finished with 29 points on 9 for 15 shooting from the floor that included going 8 for 11 from 3-point territory.

OU trailed briefly at 7-6 before going on a 19-0 run and put the game away midway through the first half.

The Sooners only had nine available scholarship players and were missing assistant coach Carlin Hartman, but it was vital for OU to take the floor. Because as easy as Thursday felt, it gets a lot tougher in a hurry with a Sunday battle at TCU.

The conference decided to have two conference games before Christmas, and because of OU having to pause last week for COVID-19, the Sooners almost had their first game of the season on the road against the Frogs.

OU most likely won’t win by 39 points in Fort Worth on Sunday, but it’s clear it was important to get on the floor and attempt to carry things over moving forward.

“We can take a lot of things, but primarily on the defensive end,” sophomore guard De’Vion Harmon said. “I think we played really good defense, but I know we can do so much better. That’s the best thing about it is that we can do better. I’m excited.

“Our defense starts our offense and that’s how it’s going to be every game. The reason why we put up 100-something points tonight was because of defense. And if we can do that, I know we’re a very hard team to beat.”

Harmon preached defense, but it was his offense that was a pleasant surprise. A hit-and-miss freshman season was followed by rave reviews of how much work he put in during the offseason.

His first impression as a sophomore was a strong one with 22 points and five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“De'Vion's worked hard,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “He's done a good job spending extra time. Great to see him get some shots down. He's worked awfully hard on that. Thought he attacked the paint and made plays for others off the dribble. He always does a really good job defensively, so great to see that.”

Notes

* Carlin Hartman missed the game, but a source confirmed he will return to the sidelines to coach Sunday at TCU. OU was also without bigs Rick Issanza and Victor Iwuakor because of COVID and contact tracing-related issues.

*Freshman Trey Phipps made his debut with 12 points, connecting on four 3-pointers.

*Jalen Hill, forced to play in the post because of players missing, fared well with seven points but adding six rebounds as OU tries to maximize his versatility.