NORMAN, OK – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (7-6) led #12/13 University of Oklahoma with 13:07 to go before falling, 72-56 to the Sooners Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, OK. Jack Collins led Monmouth with 14 points and seven rebounds, making four threes on the afternoon.
 
After Oklahoma jumped to a nine-point lead, Monmouth battle back in the second half, using a 12-2 run capped by a Collins three and a Jaret Valencia transition dunk to take a one-point lead with 13:08 remaining. The Sooners used a 17-1 run to widen their lead, with Collins and Xander Rice knocking in threes to trim it back to 11 before the eventual final, 72-56.
 
MU led for 10:12 of the opening half, scoring the first four points and going back in front after a Jakari Spence reverse layup and a Konstantynovskyi finish at the rim. With the Sooners ahead by five, Abdi Bashir Jr. made back-to-back threes before another Konstantynovskyi finish made it a three-point MU lead. Collins nailed two triples in 51 seconds to give the Hawks a two-point lead, but OU banked in a three and made another triple to close out the half with a 32-28 lead.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"First off, we have to give Oklahoma a lot of credit. They had a great plan. Our plan was to try to keep their best guys on their team from having big nights, and I thought we executed that in the first half. So proud of my team. We gave them a run, but they came out strong in the second half." – Head Coach King Rice
 
-MU finishes with a non-conference record over .500 for the fifth time under King Rice.
-Jack Collins made four threes for the third time this season.
-Abdi Bashir made multiple threes in a game for the 10^th time this season.
-Monmouth finishes the calendar year 2023 with 13 victories.
-Konstantynovskyi scored in double figures for the third game in a row and sixth overall.
-Braedan Allen secured his first two career rebounds.
-Sam Fagan grabbed his first steal of the season.
-This was the first ever meeting between Monmouth and Oklahoma.
-MU is now 1-1 against the Big 12 this season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth was better off the bench, 10-9.
-The Hawks had 10 steals to Oklahoma's eight.
-MU led with 13:08 to go.
-The game featured 13 lead changes.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth opens CAA play on January 4 at home against Towson at 7:00 p.m. The game will air on SNY and tickets are available at MonmouthHawks.com/Tickets.