Sooners Men's BB @ Rady Children's Invitational for 2: Thu & Fri

[OUBeliever56A]

On Thursday, Oklahoma and Iowa play at 2 PM CST with USC and Seton Hall playing at 4:30 PM CST. The two winners play on Friday with the two losers also playing on Friday. Thursday's non-conference contest will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Chad McKee and Kevin Henry announcing and be broadcast by FS1 with Aaron Goldsmith (PxP) and Casey Jacobsen (analyst) on the call.

Friday's game between OU and one of SH/USC will be at 2:30 PM CST on FOX right after the OU-TCU football game. It also look like the radio network will broadcast Friday's game.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the OU-Iowa Game on Thursday.
https://soonersports.com/news/2023/11/2 ... vitational

If the starting lineup holds for OU, they will send this five-some out to start the game.
G Milos Uzan - 6'4" 193 lbs, SO - 7.3 P/G and 2.8 Reb/G and 3.5 A/G
G Javian McCollum - 6'2" 160 lbs, JR - 12.0 P/G and 2.0 Reb/G and 2.5 A/G
G/F Otega Oweh - 6'5" 215 lbs, SO - 15.3 P/G and 5.3 Reb/G and 2.25 Steals/G
F Jalon Moore - 6'7" 222 lbs, JR - 7.7 P/G and 3.0 Reb/G and 1.3 Blocks/G
F/C Sam Godwin - 6'10" 235 lbs, SR - 8.3 P/G and 7.5 Reb/G and 2.0 Blocks/G.

The next five off the bench for OU are:
F/C John Hugley IV - 6'10" 275 lbs, RedJR - 11.8 P/G and
G Le'Tre Darthard - 6'4" 190 lbs, SR - 10.5 P/G and 2.3 Reb/G and 1.75 A/G
G/F Rivaldo Soares - 6'6" 215 lbs, SR - 8.3 P/G and 6.0 Reb/G and 1.5 A/G
F/C Luke Northweather - 6'11" 245 lbs, RedFR - 3.0 P/G and 3.7 Reb/G and 0.67 Blocks/G
G Kaden Cooper - 6'5" 190 lbs, FR - 4.3 P/G and 1.0 Reb/G.

Team stats wise: OU is averaging 88.5 P/G with 55.5 Points allowed per game, 43.5 Reb/G (13.5 Off Reb/G) and has 56 assists, 30 steals, 22 blocks and 50 turnovers. OU is shooting .33.7% from 3-point, 62.5% from inside the arc and 79.6 from the Free Throw Line.

Iowa is slightly bigger with their starters and their next five players.
G Perkins - 6'4" 205 lbs SR - 12.3 P/G, 5.8 Reb/G and 2.5 A.G
G Bowen - 6'2" 183 lbs SO - 8.3 P/G, 2.0 Reb/G and 4,25 A/G
F Sandfort, Payton - 6'7" 215 lbs JR - 14.0 P/G, 8.8 Reb/G and 2.75 A/G
F McCaffery - 6'9" 212 lbs RedSR - 14.0 P/G, 3.5 Reb/G and 2.0 A/G
F Krikke - 6'9" 245 lbs GRAD - 20.0 P/G, 6.5 Reb/G and 2.0 Steals/G

F Freeman - 6'10" 230 lbs FR - 9.3 P/G, 2.5 Reb/G and 1.5 Blocks/G
G Dix - 6'5" 200 lbs SO - 5.3 P/G, 3.3 Reb/G and 1.5 A/G
F Dembele - 6'8" 250 lbs FR - 4.5 P/G, 2.0 Reb and 1.75 Steals/G
G Harding - 6'0" 162 lbs FR - 3.0 P/G, 0.3 Reb/G and 4.25 Assist/G
F Sandfort, Pryce - 6'6" 205 lbs FR - 2.8 P/G, 1.5 Reb/G and 0.75 Assist/G

Team stats wise: Iowa is averaging 95.0 P/G with 75.3 Points allowed per game, 40.3 Reb/G (12.25 Off Reb/G) and has 84 assists, 36 steals, 19 blocks and 27 turnovers. Iowa is shooting .36.7% from 3-point, 54.1% from inside the arc and 72.2% from the Free Throw Line.

I think the keys to the game against Iowa are;
#1 - the Sooner Bench. I think OU will get a much bigger contribution from Hugley, Dorthard and Soares than the Iowa bench combined. the experience of OU's bench is also much higher than Iowa's.
#2 - OU's Turnovers must be managed. OU needs to get shots off every chance they can especially inside the arc. If the possessions are equal, OU should win with a better shooting %. Through 4 games, Iowa has had 68.25 possessions per game. OU has had 59.75 possessions per game. Those 8 extra possessions could be important. Iowa's opponents have committed 65 turnovers to create those extra possessions. If OU could keep their turnovers under 10, it would be a big plus for OU.
#3 - Iowa is bigger. We will see if Godwin, Hugley IV, Moore/Soares and Nothweather can match up against Iowa. OU has to have a key to slow down the 6'9" 245 lb Krikke from his 20 points a game. Can OU handle the inside without fouling will be part of this. Hugley IV may play more on Thursday and Moore/Soares may be asked to play more on the inside on defense.

I think the two team's schedule through 4 games favors Iowa due to the Creighton game. I think Oklahoma has a good chance to win the game against Iowa if OU manages the turnovers and they stay out of foul trouble by Godwin and Hugley IV.

Oklahoma depth is much better it looks like so at some point a closely called game (more fouls) favors OU as long as Krikke also is in foul trouble. Krikke could be the best big man on the floor and OU needs to find a way to slow him down. Defensive and offensive rebounds will tell the tale of which team can run as they both appear how they want to play. I think the more OU runs, the better they can play and score in general. OU can also play defense this year due to better athletes and length. I think that may be a secret about OU this season. OU has outscored their opponents by 33 points a game through the first 4 games due to very good defense.

Good luck to the Sooners on Thursday against Iowa. Defeating a Big 10 team would look good on their resume.

Boomer Sooner!

[gcruse7]

Great first half! Sooners up 12, 36-24.

[OU Guy]

48-30 at the 15:30 mark of 2nd half. This is not the same team as last year. Physical!!

[OU Guy]

[OU Guy]

63-44 at 7:48 mark

This team can go places. Only made 2 3-pointers and still dominating

[OU Guy]

[OU Guy]

[OU Guy]

[OU Guy]

DCO

Defense creates offense! Defense will help later in year and in B12. Thats what you call shutting down a high octane offense!!

[OU Guy]

4 minute recap

[EMan]

Good, solid win by the Sooners. Playing like a team with a lot of confidence right now. Very pleasant surprise so far this season.

[OU Guy]

[OUBeliever56A]

I was able to watch some of the first half and all of the second half of yesterday's game. The more I watch the Sooner Men, the more I seem to like what they are doing and their defense and the athleticism on the court. I liked one comment made by the TV announcers that I heard, "The Sooners have eight starters!" I think that is very much true. While only five of them start, the first three Sooners off the bench are just as good as the five that start and enable the Sooners to change styles slightly due to Hugley IV off the bench.

Oklahoma more or less won the game in the first ten minutes of the game. OU outscored Iowa 22-12 to open the game and while the lead grew and shrunk, the other 30 minutes of the game was a tie ad OU scored 55 points and Iowa scored 55 points.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the 5th win of the season.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/11/2 ... anksgiving

Stats that stand out to me are:

- 8 turnovers by the Oklahoma Sooners! Coach Moser had to have that stat circled on his post-game sheet. When you couple that with 15 assists and 8 steals, OU had almost a 3-to-1 margin for Assists and Steal to their Turnovers. A team wins most every game with that stats.

- The Starters (Godwin, Moore, McCollum, Oweh and Uzan) were 25 of 42 from the field for 59.5% and scored 60 points in the game with 15 defensive rebounds in 144 minutes of play. The starters played very well.

- OU scored 20 points off of the 14 turnovers by Iowa. OU outscored Iowa in the Paint - 46-34. OU won the fast break points with 15-5.

From what I watched, I would say that the OU defense and explosiveness on offense really made the difference. Iowa had to work very hard for their shots and I think OU forced Iowa out further from the bucket to get their shots. Inside, OU held Iowa's leading scorer to 11 points (9 under his average) on 9 shots. In fact the top 4 scorers for Iowa scored only 31 points compared to their combined average of 60 points a game. Tremendous job by the Sooners. It also seemed that about every 4 or 5 minutes Oklahoma would have a big dunk or a steal and score or just a very good play that showed the athleticism of the Sooners. Jalon Moore put on a couple of shows on high flying dunks in the game.

Moore, McCollum and Oweh can score. Uzan is proving to be a very good ball handler as he dished out 9 assists in the game with no turnovers. Godwin played well against bigger people and used his hustle very well. Hugley IV did not have many big stats yesterday, but his presence in seen and felt on the court. Darthard and Soares had quiet games off the bench but there is no fall-off of the Sooners play on defense especially when they are in the game.

About the only negative in the game yesterday was that OU was outrebounded 44 to 35 by Iowa and that 18 of those 44 Iowa rebounds were offensive boards. But OU was able to limit those 18 second chance opportunities only produced 13 points.

USC, who the Sooners play today at 2:30 PM, won over Seton Hall 71-63 last night. Some post here talked about USC having several bigs. I don't see that from last night's game. USC started 4 players between 6'3" and 6'6" and one that was 6'11". They did play four bigs off the bench that range from 6'8" to 7'1" but they only played 63 of the 200 minutes, about 30% of the minutes. Their guards played 137 minutes of the 200 available. Their guards also scored most of the point for USC.

The game today between OU and USC looks like a guard-dominated game. I think I like that matchup. With OU's depth and quality of play at guard with McCollum, Oweh, Uzan, Darthard and Soares, I like Oklahoma's chances to win that contest. The defense played by these five Sooners is usually smothering so far this year. If the Oklahoma guards play well, the Oklahoma bigs with Godwin, Moore and Hugley IV and Northweather should do well also.

OU has to control Ellis and Collier for USC on offense and make sure that Morgan and Hornery (USC bigs) do not have big games today. If they can do that, the Sooners will have shut own a team of bigs (Iowa) and a team of Guards (USC) on consecutive games in back-to-back games.

The back-to-back aspect of the game is a considerable influence on the game today also. OU only played 3 payers (McCollum, Oweh and Uzan) over 30 minutes yesterday. Only one other Sooner played more than 20 minutes yesterday (Moore). USC mirrored those minutes with their players but used 10 players instead of the 9 who played for OU. I think Oklahoma is in very good condition though and the back-to-back games should not affect them too much with the minutes played yesterday.

I will rush home from the OU football final home game to watch the game. It is on FOX directly after the OU-TCU football game today at 2:30 PM.

Good luck to the Sooners today against the Trojans from USC.

Boomer Sooner!

[SwampSooner]

Otega Oweh tips in Javian McCollum's jumper with 1.4 sec to go giving Oklahoma a 72-70 victory over USC!.

[RussC]

56A: Thanks for all the detailed posts