Kuol Atak, Xzayvier Brown pace OU effort, Kirill Elatontsev debuts in Sooners win

Battling the start-and-stop nature of the holidays can be a hassle, and OU didn’t look like itself for most of Monday.

But on a night like that, it just takes one or two guys to carry the load. The rest of the guys can wake up later as long as you have some help.

OU had just that from Kuol Atak in the first half and Xzayvier Brown in the second half to pave the way to a 93-69 victory against visiting Mississippi Valley State on Monday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Atak almost couldn’t miss in the first half. He had 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting that included going 5-for-6 from 3-point territory. Atak finished with 24 points.

“I mean, it was just more so just staying focused, not doing something I’ve never done before,” Atak said. “So, just making sure I just keep my head low, make sure I just show out the game I know I can play.”

He cooled off a bit in the second half, leading to Brown to take over. After a seven-point outing in the first 20 minutes, Brown was the one to stretch out the lead in the second half. He scored 15 of his 22 points after intermission. Brown added five rebounds and five assists.

OU only led 43-34 at halftime but came out with the required energy to stretch out the advantage in the second half.

The Sooners have now won four in a row.

OU news/notes

*Ankle troubles linger for the Sooners. Guard Dayton Forsythe and center Kai Rogers both missed the game with ankle problems.

It is the second straight game for Forsythe, who is battling ailments to both ankles. Rogers did not practice all week after spraining his ankle in last Monday’s victory.

“I don’t care who we would’ve played today, neither one of them would have been able to go,” Moser told SoonerScoop. “It wasn’t like I was just holding them back for today. We’ll see. Not live practice. Not live body-on-body practice. So we’ll see. We still have four or five days before we get going on Saturday.”

*Head coach Porter Moser wasn’t afraid to use the newest Sooner. Ruled eligible Sunday, and transfer Kirill Elatontsev was in the lineup Monday.

At 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, the 23-year-old from Russia will give OU another body down low. And we’ll see what else he can produce.

He had six points and four rebounds in 18 minutes to begin his Sooner career.

“Really what happened is Oct. 9, Jeff Goodman put a tweet out,” Moser said. “He said and talked about Kirill. He said he has already been cleared by the NCAA, will be eligible to play right away. We knew we only had two guys. It started with that tweet. Then we did our due diligence. Watched him and started recruiting him, did that whole process.

“In the back of our mind, started going through that process. The whole country saw that tweet, had a lot of calls, not just us. We recruited him and showed we had a need for him. We did not do anything in getting him cleared by the NCAA. That tweet, we saw it, he’s already been cleared by the NCAA on Oct. 9. And we were like he’s already been cleared, he’s 6-11, so that’s how it started.

*Nijel Pack did a lot of his scoring damage late. But what was impressive was his playmaking ability. Pack had 13 points but added seven assists.

Up next

Time for the SEC. Now the conference wasn’t as dominant in November and December, so it’s going to be imperative to not start slow. OU (10-3) is going to close out a four-game home stand by welcoming Ole Miss to the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday afternoon. It will be the conference opener for both teams.