Missouri faced old Big 12 Conference foe Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma Friday. In their first meeting since Feb. 6, 2012, the Tigers fell 82-63 to the Sooners.

**Mizzou throws the first punch, finishes strong, but still gets knocked out**

If it was a game of quarters, Mizzou won the first quarter. But Oklahoma won the second quarter, and the third, and the fourth.

Coming into Friday’s game, the Tigers had traditionally started off games slow (combined -50 in first halves). But Mizzou didn’t lose their lead until nearly midway through the first half.

The great start was due to them coming out quick in transition, and assertive in the offensive zone. This kept the fast Sooners team from dominating in their own transition game.

But when Mizzou lost its lead, they lost it for good. The Tigers were outscored 24-10 in the final 12 minutes of the first half. And the Sooners came out of halftime and went on a 15-0 run that spanned the first 5 minutes of the second half.

In the game’s final 10 minutes, the Tigers outscored the Sooners 28-26. But at that point the game was far out of reach.

**Tiger turnovers allow for Sooners momentum**

In the first half, when Oklahoma took the lead and ran away with it, Mizzou had 10 turnovers. Four of those were by sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III. The Sooners read Mizzou’s passes, stealing the ball eight times in the game’s first 20 minutes.

This led to 15 points off of turnovers for the Sooners in the first half alone.

**Namon Wright needs to be in the starting lineup**

Freshman guard Namon Wright started his second consecutive game Friday, and capitalized on the chance by scoring 12 against the nation’s No. 22 team. He did this is 21 minutes.

In his last four games, Wright is averaging over 11 points per game. This includes a 21-point game against Chaminade in the final game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational Nov. 26.

Given, Chaminade is a Division II team. But Namon Wright led the team in points that game in 25 minutes, and shot 7-7 from the field during that time.

Assuming the recently suspended sophomore guard Wes Clark gets back into the starting lineup soon (Clark scored eight points Friday), Wright will get knocked out of the starting job.

But Wright is producing in limited playing time. He provides a spark to the inconsistent Mizzou offense, and protects the ball (0.7 turnovers per game on the year).

Head coach Kim Anderson needs to find a way to continue to give Wright 20-plus minutes, or get him into the starting lineup. Maybe this means dropping Rosburg from the lineup, moving Williams III to center, and inserting the 6’5 Wright at a forward position.

Mizzou next faces off against Elon on Thursday Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Mizzou Arena. Maybe Wright will start once again, this time against the Phoenix.