B.J. Edwards scored 18 and Derrion Reid added 17 points as Oklahoma beat Mississippi Valley State 84-57 on Friday in Norman, Okla.
After the Sooners opened the season with a surprising loss to East Texas A&M, they controlled this game from early, leading for all but 18 seconds after the game’s first basket.
One of the biggest changes for Oklahoma from the opener was the return of point guard Xzayvier Brown, who missed Monday’s opener with a lower-body injury.
Brown finished with a game-high seven assists as the Sooners finished with 25 assists, their most in a game since November 2023.
The Sooners missed 15 free throws in the opener, but attempted just six, missing one, against the Delta Devils. Oklahoma didn’t make it to the free-throw line until more than six minutes into the second half.
After a sluggish start from the field, with the Sooners missing six of their first seven shots, Oklahoma took control with a 20-3 run that lasted eight minutes.
The Sooners (1-1) led by as many as 20 before the break before a pair of Mississippi Valley State 3-pointers in the final minute cut the lead to 16 at halftime.
The Delta Devils, playing their first game of the season and the first under new head coach Mike Davis, scored the first six points of the second half to make it a 10-point game.
But the Sooners responded with a layup from Reid and a 3-pointer from Dayton Forsythe to stop the Mississippi Valley State push and settle back into control.
Tymias Williams led all scorers with 19 points in the loss and had nine rebounds, but Matt Anglo (10 points) was the only other Delta Devils player to score in double figures.
The Sooners finished with 12 steals, scoring 16 points off Mississippi Valley’s 17 turnovers.
After shooting just 41% before halftime, Oklahoma shot 54.8% from the field in the second half.
The Delta Devils were just 36.2% from the field and made just 3 of 18 from beyond the arc.