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The Oklahoma Sooners picked up a big win to open SEC play, beating the Ole Miss Rebels 86-70 at home on Saturday. The Sooners moved to 11-3 on the season and earned their fifth win in a row and moved to 1-0 in conference play.
The Sooners led at halftime and then pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Rebels by 14 points after the break. Xzayvier Brown led the way with 23 points, and redshirt freshman Kuol Atak had another strong performance after a career high earlier this week.
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Here are three takeaways from the Sooners' win.
1. Xzayvier Brown has IT
For the second game in a row, Oklahoma guard Xzyavier Brown turned it up after halftime. In the SEC opening win over Ole Miss, he poured in 23 points, 19 of which came after halftime. After the break, he was 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 3 from three-point range in 18 minutes.
The Sooners received contributions from a number of players throughout the game, but it was Brown in the second half who sparked the Sooners' ability to run away from the Rebels.
He was awesome, and Ole Miss didn't have much of an answer for Brown. He's the type of player that can spark a deep tournament run if he gets hot in March.
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2. Depth Scoring
Brown had just four points in the first half, but that didn't prevent Oklahoma from taking a lead into halftime. That's because the scoring was spread out through the roster. Seven Sooners registered a point, and five Sooners had at least six points.
In addition to Brown's 17, three other Sooners recorded at least six points in the second half.
Five Sooners scored in double figures in the win. Brown had 23, Nijel Pack and Tae Davis had 15 apiece, Kuol Atak had 14, and Mohamed Wague had 10 (he also had 15 rebounds).
For Oklahoma to have success in the SEC they need multiple scoring options and it looks like the Sooners have it.
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3. Defensive Tenacity
The Oklahoma Sooners were active defensively, not allowing Ole Miss anything easy throughout the game, but played with greater defensive intensity in the second half. For the game, Oklahoma held the Rebels to 38% shooting from the field, including 32.1% field goal percentage in the second half.
Oklahoma's interior defense held Ole Miss to 18 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle by seven.
That's the kind of effort that it's going to take for the Sooners to be a factor in the SEC title race and earn an NCAA tournament berth.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: 3 takeaways from Oklahoma's big win over Ole Miss to begin SEC play
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