In Oklahoma’s first-ever SEC conference game, the No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide were too much for the Sooners to handle, dominating them with a final score of 107-97. This drops Oklahoma to 13-1 (0-1) on the season.

Alabama took control early, and the Sooners just couldn’t get anything going all night. The Crimson Tide went into halftime with a commanding 48-29 lead, and the second half only got worse.

Led by Mark Sears, who scored 22 points and dished out 10 assists, Alabama dominated Oklahoma from start to finish. There’s a lot of bad to cover — and, quite frankly, not much good to highlight — in this Report Card. So, without further ado, let’s jump into it.

The Sooners needed to hit big shots to have a chance at a road win against the No. 5 team in the country—but they couldn’t do that in this game. Oklahoma missed too many good looks in the first half, allowing Alabama to build an avalanche of momentum.

In the first half, the Sooners shot 12-34 (35.3%) from the field and 1-8 (12.5%) from beyond the arc. Their leading scorer, Jeremiah Fears, managed just one point on 0-7 shooting. When your leading scorer, along with Duke Miles, who scored just 2 points in the first half, both struggle, it’s a recipe for offensive struggles, and that’s exactly what happened.

There are times when you can’t find a good shot, and times when the shots are there but simply aren’t falling. In this game, the Sooners couldn’t buy a bucket when they needed it, and by the time key players like Fears and Miles got going, it was too late.

The first-half defense wasn’t actually that bad, despite Alabama scoring 48 points. Sometimes, teams just hit tough shots and move the ball exceptionally well—other times, it’s just poor defense.

Don’t get me wrong, there were many bad defensive moments where Oklahoma’s guards got blown by, but in the first half, it was more about Alabama making tough shots and moving the ball well.

It was in the second half that poor defense really started to show. Alabama is known for scoring a lot, but not 107 points. There were several defensive lapses throughout the game, ultimately leading to the most points scored on a Porter Moser-led team.

Rebounding was a major issue for the Sooners. Alabama grabbed 51 total rebounds compared to Oklahoma’s 26—and a staggering 22 offensive rebounds to OU’s 8.

While the Crimson Tide are known for their strong offensive rebounding, being out-rebounded by 25 is unacceptable. Oklahoma will need to address this quickly, especially with their next opponent, Texas A&M, ranked No. 1 in offensive rebound percentage.

Fears ended with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three turnovers. He shot 5-15 from the field, 1-5 from behind the arc, and 5-8 from the free-throw line. To be clear, it was not a good first half for Fears, but his second half was much better—albeit too little, too late.

This is not just applicable to Fears but to all of Oklahoma’s guards: Alabama’s length clearly bothered them. You could see it affecting Fears and Miles in the first half, but they seemed to adjust somewhat in the second half.

Miles finished with 10 points on 3-8 shooting from the field, 0-2 from deep, and 4-5 from the free-throw line. He was silent offensively in the first half and overall had a quiet night despite still finishing in double figures.

Kobe Elvis was the only guard who showed up in the first half, totaling 8 of his 13 points in that half. His shooting splits weren’t great — 6-14 from the field, 1-7 from beyond the arc, and 0-1 from the free-throw line — but he felt like the only guard making things happen in the first half. And, well, he was.

Brycen Goodine played 20 minutes off the bench, totaling 3 points on 1-3 shooting from the field and 1-2 from behind the arc. It was a rough showing for Goodine on the defensive end. Glenn Taylor, who played 18 minutes, failed to score and didn’t even attempt a shot.

Jalon Moore was Oklahoma’s leading scorer with 20 points and seven rebounds on 9-14 shooting from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc. He was the best offensive option for Oklahoma in this one.

Sam Godwin played hard throughout his 21 minutes on the floor, finishing with 15 points and five rebounds on 7-10 shooting from the field. There were moments when it was clear he was athletically outmatched, but Godwin fought through it and did what he could on the offensive end.

The problem came behind Godwin, as neither Luke Northweather nor Mohamed Wague were able to contribute anything of note. Wague played just five minutes, scoring two points and recording a nice block, but he struggled otherwise in those brief minutes. Northweather, meanwhile, failed to score and didn’t grab a rebound in his 13 minutes of play.

Both Wague and Northweather have their weaknesses, which hadn’t been as apparent throughout the season—until tonight, when those weaknesses were clearly exposed.

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