TULSA , Okla. – In a game fitting of an NCAA tournament atmosphere, Oklahoma delivered a performance worthy of being involved in that type of conversation.

The Sooners played their best game of the season and needed it in taking down previously undefeated Arkansas 88-66 on Saturday afternoon at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

The way first-year head coach Porter Moser has explained things repeatedly is everything is a teaching moment, a chance to get better, a chance for lessons learned.

OU is has had substantial leads in the second half of all 10 of its games but has squandered a couple of those opportunities.

It looked like it could be one of those stories again vs. the Hogs. After leading 50-35, OU’s lead dwindled down to 61-57, which way would it go?

The Sooners responded with a 17-0 run, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman was ejected after back-to-back technical, and OU cruised to its biggest win of the season in front of a fantastic neutral site crowd.

“Over and over we responded, time and time again,” Moser said. “I will tell you this. The last time we responded, we had some subs in there. Bijan made some nice passes, Ethan Chargois made a couple of nice plays. We had some subs in there when we had a couple of responses to it.

“Jordan Goldwire had his best floor game for us so far this year. I think he really controlled a lot of tempo. He got guys shots. I thought he played through fatigue better than he's done all year. I thought he was good. I thought Tanner was really loud and communicating. Defensively, he was doing some things. I thought defensively, the start of both halves really was big.”

The start absolutely was huge. Tanner Groves called it the best environment he’s ever played in for a college basketball game, and OU responded taking a 13-0 lead out of the gate. After leading 39-33 at halftime, an 11-0 OU run in the second half made it 50-35, forcing Arkansas to keep on playing from behind.

The Sooners aren’t always the best 3-point shooting team, but when the margin was cut to 61-57, it was some timely threes by Jalen Hill, Groves and Mo Gibson that really stretched things out.

“I think our guards just did an incredible job of getting guys open. We talked about it in practice,” Groves said. “They love to pressure us full court, and I think we were able to abuse that a little bit. Our guards were playing with great poise. They were able to get downhill, get into the paint and then find me, (Umoja) Gibson or find some other guys and just get them open threes.

“Because of how hard they were able to get downhill and draw the defense, it just caused us to be wide open. That was part of our game plan, and it ended up working out great.”

OU shot 13-of-22 from 3-point territory (59 percent) and shot 55 percent from the field for the game.

It was another all-around effort from the Sooners, but you’re starting to see Elijah Harkless emerging as the guy who wants the moment.

He didn’t back down against the Hogs and scored 21 points with 11 rebounds.

“That's something I've worked on a lot,” Harkless said. “I just kind of didn't have a good start to the season. But you know, I think my percentage will catch up to me because I'm gonna work every single day. It's just kind of falling for me right now, and I hope to continue to keep showing everybody else that I could really shoot the ball. You know, the coaches believe in me, my teammates believe in me.”

OU limited Arkansas to 34 percent shooting and the Sooners have now beaten SEC tournament teams Florida and Arkansas in back-to-back weeks.

Notes and observations

*Ball movement was crucial here. The Sooners had 18 assists and it was a big-time effort by Jordan Goldwire.

“They’re picking you up full court the whole game. For a point guard, those are little body blows. I thought Jordan played through fatigue better than he had all year.”

Goldwire had 14 points and six assists and three steals.

*Chunks of time where one player takes over and then the next. It felt that way between Jalen Hill (11 points), Groves (16 points) and Gibson (12). It’s the way OU has to play to be successful, and you see how well it works on an afternoon like this.

Gibson and Groves combined for seven 3-pointers, while Hill was aggressive all night in the post with eight rebounds.

*OU (8-2) has a week off before returning next Sunday to Lloyd Noble Center vs. UT-Arlington.