NORMAN, Okla. -- About a month ago, the Oklahoma football coach had to explain himself after a lopsided win over an overmatched opponent.
It was Kelvin Sampson's turn to offer up a similar defense Tuesday night.
The 14th-ranked Sooners overwhelmed Arkansas-Pine Bluff 94-24 in Sampson's biggest rout in 10 seasons with the team.
Sampson insisted that he wasn't going to apologize for the runaway, the same stance football coach Bob Stoops took after his top-ranked Sooners rolled past Texas A&M 77-0 on Nov. 8.
"I just wish we had more walk-ons," Sampson said, offering up a halfhearted apology anyway. "It's hard to back off when every kid is a really good player.
"Everybody plays games like this and I'm not going to apologize for the score."
Arkansas-Pine Bluff didn't stick around to respond. The team quickly cleared out of its locker room after the game.
Tuning up for Saturday's game at No. 5 Michigan State, the Sooners (4-0) didn't have to break much of a sweat against the Golden Lions.
The 24 points were the fewest by an Oklahoma opponent since a 49-21 win over Warrensburg (Mo.) College during the 1946-47 season.
Oklahoma led 48-9 at halftime. At that point, the Golden Lions had almost twice as many turnovers (23) as shot attempts (13).
During the first half, Oklahoma held Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-4) without a field goal for spans of 5:04 and 7:06.
"We've really been emphasizing transition defense all week in practice," Oklahoma forward Kevin Bookout said. "We just need to take it game by game and Michigan State will be a big one for us."
When UAPB's Jamaal Bibles hit a 3-pointer early in the second half that put his team into double-digits, the crowd cheered wildly for the overmatched Golden Lions.
De'Angelo Alexander scored 19 points for the Sooners. Bookout had 14, Jason Detrick 13 and Jabahri Brown 12.
The Sooners limited the Golden Lions to just nine field goals and 21 percent shooting. Another telling statistic from the blowout: Arkansas-Pine Bluff finished with only two assists, one in each half.
"It doesn't matter if you win by two points or 70. In the end, it's a win," Sampson said, before pausing for a second.
"That doesn't sound right," he said, laughing a bit. "I don't think I've done that before."
He hadn't until Tuesday, anyway.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff is playing 11 of its first 12 games on the road, and has lost its first four games by an average of 38 points.
None of the Golden Lions scored in double figures, not surprising for a team with only one person averaging more than 10 points. The leading scorer was Billy Hall, who scored six points.
Three other players had four points.
The only person who didn't get into the game for the Sooners was the coach's 18-year-old son, Kellen, who is redshirting this season.
Some fans in the "announced" crowd of 11,247 -- the arena looked about a third that full -- began chanting for Kellen to get put into the game in the final minutes.
One of the fans, a stocky man in a rainbow-hued wig, shouted out loud enough for everyone in the arena to hear: "C'mon. He's redshirting."
Kellen smiled sheepishly as the rest of the Sooners broke out in laughter.
AP NEWS
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