NORMAN – The Sooners entered Saturday’s game with a chance to pull off a huge upset over No. 4 Tennessee, but it became evident early on that wouldn’t be the case.

In the first half, the Volunteers shot 18-26 (69.2%) from the field and 7-12 (58.3%) from behind the arc. That scorching shooting led to a 45-25 halftime lead. Meanwhile, Oklahoma struggled to find its rhythm offensively, shooting 11-28 (39.3%) from the field.

Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier torched the Sooners, quickly scoring 13 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field.

Although Tennessee’s shooting regressed in the second half, it didn’t matter. The Volunteers finished with a 70-52 victory, led by Lanier’s 21 points and Zakai Zeigler’s 17 points. This loss moves the Sooners to 16-7 (3-7).

As hot as Tennessee was from the field in the first half, there were stretches where the Volunteers turned it over, giving the Sooners opportunities. Unfortunately, Oklahoma wasn’t able to capitalize and convert those chances into points.

The Sooners’ offensive struggles were so severe that, despite Tennessee turning the ball over 19 times, Oklahoma still couldn’t make the game competitive.

Oklahoma finished the game shooting just 17-53 (32.1%) from the field and 6-23 (26.1%) from behind the arc. Additionally, they struggled with ball security, committing 12 turnovers.

Sure, Tennessee was hot from the field in the first half, but Oklahoma’s defense didn’t do itself any favors. The Volunteers were consistently able to get open looks due to poor closeouts from the Sooners’ defense.

Tennessee attempted twelve three-pointers in the first half and knocked down seven of them. It wasn’t as though they were making heavily contested shots—far too many were wide open looks.

Overall, the Volunteers shot 29-48 (60.4%) from the field and 9-21 (42.9%) from behind the arc. While their three-point shooting cooled off in the second half, as they shot 2-9 from deep, the damage had already been done.

Jeremiah Fears was questionable for today's game and despite being at about 80%, he gave it a go. He finished with 8 points on 3-8 shooting from the field and 0-3 shooting from behimd the arc. Jalon Moore led the Sooners in points with 12 and was 4-12 from the field and 2-5 from deep. He also pitchjed in four rebounds.

Brycen Goodine, who leads the SEC in three-point percenytage, did not attempt a single three-pointer in the first half. The Sooners simply have to be better at getting him looks. In the second half, he drilled his first three-pointer and fished with9 points on 2-7 shooting from the field and 1-4 shooting from behind the arc.

Early in the first half, Sam Godwin had a wide open layup at the rim and left it short. That sums up the day that Godwin had. He finished with 4 points and six rebounds on 1-4 shooting from the filed. It was just a poor day from Godwin, and all of Oklahoma's bigs.

Duke Miles totaled 6 points on 2-9 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from deep.

Overall, it was a rough day for the Sooners in general, and the starters were part of that.

It was a rough night for both the starters and the bench, as nobody off the bench was able to generate any significant production.

Dayton Forsythe played 21 minutes, finishing with 4 points on 1-3 shooting from the field. Glenn Taylor contributed 4 points on 2-7 shooting, including 0-3 from behind the arc. Kobe Elvis was held scoreless, going 0-1 from the field in 12 minutes of play.

Mohamed Wague managed 2 points on 1-1 shooting in 13 minutes, with those points coming late in the second half. Luke Northweather did not score or attempt a shot. For the Sooners’ frontcourt, Wague played 13 minutes, Northweather played 10, and Godwin played 14, but none were able to provide much of an impact on the game.

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