Men’s Basketball Falls at Oklahoma

Wednesday, November 15

Norman, Okla.

7:00 PM CT (8:00 PM ET)

Ball State University

0-2

108

Oklahoma

2-0

Ball State

Oklahoma

108

Photo by: Kyle Crawford

November 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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Walker (23 points), Mallers (17) lead Cardinals in defeat

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Ball State men's basketball team suffered a 108-69 loss Wednesday night to Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Junior guard Jontrell Walker led the Cardinals with 23 points off the bench, connecting on 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Sophomore forward Kyle Mallers scored a career-high 17, including 16 in the second half, and made four 3's.

Oklahoma (2-0) raced out to a 23-5 lead and maintained its hot shooting the rest of the way. The Sooners shot 59 percent from the floor and knocked down 9 of 17 from 3-point range in the first half.

Ball State (0-2), meanwhile, struggled to get shots to fall. The Cardinals shot 27 percent and made just four 4 of 17 from 3-point land in the opening 20 minutes, as the Sooners took a 60-31 lead into the break.

"I want to give Lon Kruger and Oklahoma a lot of credit," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "They made it very hard for us to get anything entered in our offense, and we panicked. We put our head down and tried to drive to the rim, and they're too good and athletic to not play offense the right way. We paid a dear price for that, and it will be a great lesson."

Walker and Mallers combined to score 26 of Ball State's 38 second-half points, but the Cardinals could not cut into Oklahoma's lead. The Sooners finished the game shooting 57 percent to Ball State's 30 percent.

Freshman guard Trae Young led Oklahoma with 22 points and 13 assists. Khadeem Lattin added 20 for the Sooners.

Tahjai Teague paced Ball State on the glass with 10 rebounds, while Trey Moses grabbed nine.

Friday's game was the first of three in five days for the Cardinals, who will return to Muncie for the home opener Friday at 7 p.m. against Stony Brook.