NORMAN — Longar Longar lost himself in the flow of the game. Then he found himself leading a fast break.
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Oklahoma's 6-foot-11 senior drove through the lane, toppling over an Arkansas defender as he lofted a pass that sailed over his wing man and everybody else on the court.
Longar crashed to the floor in obvious pain, but stayed in the game to carry the Sooners (8-3) to an 83-72 win over the Razorbacks Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center.
"I didn't like his Magic Johnson impersonation,” OU coach Jeff Capel said of Longar's poorly performed fast break.
"Coach told me to put it behind me and not worry about it,” Longar said. "In the moment of the game, you do stuff like that.”
But everything else went right for Longar. He and Austin Johnson had 17 points apiece and combined for 14 of OU's final 15 points in a crucial victory over a talented Arkansas team.
Longar had seven rebounds and four blocked shots — three in the final 7:30.
The flow of the game sucked Longar into making one ugly mistake, but it also produced possibly the best offensive performance of his career.
"Coach always says to throw yourself into the game,” Longar said. "Don't feel pressure, just lose yourself into the game and that's what I did. I was just out there playing, having fun with the guys.”
And some of Longar's biggest plays came after his hard fall on the fast break.
• A 58-percent free-throw shooter, Longar made two that gave OU a 70-65 lead with 3:20 left.
• He blocked a shot that turned into a 3-pointer by Johnson on the other end.
• He thrilled the crowd with two big dunks.
•He grabbed a long offensive rebound that led to two Sooner points.
• And he drew a charging foul that eventually led to OU taking a 79-68 lead with less than a minute left.
"People feed off Longar playing like that,” Johnson said.
"He's a senior and he knows he has to be big for us. If he plays big for us, we can win just about any game.”
Longar's 17 points were most impressive considering it came against last season's Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Hogs 7-footer Steven Hill.
"Longar was very good,” Capel said. "He can score on the block. He can score going to the basket. He can shoot the ball. You saw a variety of the things he can do.
"Hopefully he can use this to build on it and to get better.”
At times, Longar took a beating inside against Arkansas' big, physical frontcourt, yet he found a way to keep pushing through the pain.
"He took a couple of bad falls, but he kept getting back up and kept playing,” Capel said. "We went to him and he delivered.”
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