It's hard to give anything but A's
OU's 95-72 domination of Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament was so stunning, it's hard to find anything on which to downgrade the Sooners. Here's the report card:
Starting lineup
AThe Sooner starters played 11:35 together. During those times, OU outscored Ole Miss 36-20 and made 14 of 19 shots. The five starters played superbly individually as well. Rashard Odomes (20 points), Christian James (20), Kristian Doolittle (19 points, 15 rebounds) and Brady Manek (18 points) combined to make 28 of 41 shots.
Ball security
AThe Sooners had 67 possessions and committed only three turnovers before taking a humanitarian shot-clock violation with 3.7 seconds left in the game. Ole Miss had only one steal and was outscored 15-6 in points off turnovers.
Cheerleaders
AThe Sooners won a halftime duel against Ole Miss on which cheerleaders could be held aloft the longest. Two female cheerleaders from each school stood in the hands of male counterparts; last duo standing won. And each school had a team of three females holding up another female. OU won both competitions.
Aggression
AOle Miss came out with pressure defense on the ball, but OU didn't turn passive. Point guard Jamal Bieniemy kept the offense humming, the Sooners attacked and didn't settle for 3-point shots. Ole Miss took 31 deep balls, OU just 13. The Sooners scored 64 paint points, on 26 of 40 shooting, and the aggression helped create 26 foul shots. Ole Miss took just four.
Alley-oops
DThe only nit to pick was OU's lob passes. Three times the Sooners floated lobs at the basket. None scored. Doolittle was just shy of dunking on the first play of the game, Odomes sailed a would-be dunk over the rim and Bieniemy threw a ball out of bounds trying to complete a pass to James, which was OU's only turnover of the first half.
Answering
AClutch shooting was OU's hallmark Friday. The most points the Rebels scored in a row in either half was five to open the second half. Mississippi made 11 3-pointers; OU immediately scored after seven of those makes.