Sooner Men's Basketball ready for trip to Ft. Worth to play TCU!

[OUBeliever56A]

The 2.5 hour trip to Ft. Worth should not be a problem for the Sooners due to the weather, but the traffic in north Ft. Worth due to construction may delay them a bit on the way. Is that work ever going to be completed. I have traveled in that construction since 1981 it seems.

The game is on ESPN2 for a national audience at 8 PM on Wednesday night. The Big 12 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 Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing, I believe.

The game is a game between the 13-1 Sooners and the 11-3 Horned Frogs. On Saturday, the first day of Big 12 games took place. Oklahoma picked up a win over a good Iowa State team by eight points in Norman while TCU dropped a very tight game in Lawrence against the Kansas-crazies and the Kansas by just two points. The Sooners lone loss was to North Carolina (#7 ranked) while Kansas State has lost to Clemson (#21), Nevada (RV30) and Kansas (#3). Currently, Oklahoma is ranked #9 in the polls and TCU is receiving votes in both polls.

TCU plays a quick paced game using the full court for pressure and by quickly moving the game up the floor on offense. They play 10 players in most games. They start 3 guards, 1 forward and 1 center but move to a 3 or 4 guard lineup with 1 or 2 forwards for most of the game. They play three guards that are 6'2" or 6"3 and six guards/forwards that are 6'7" to 6'9" and then that one lone center who is 6'11" and 260 pounds. A couple of the TCU forwards are 235 and 250 also. TCU has some bulk inside.

Their best two scorers are Miller, a 6'7" forward, who scores 16.3 points a game and 5.9 rebounds and Peavy, a 6'8" guard, who scores 11.3 points and 4.8 rebounds a game. Two players off the bench, Coles (6'8" forward) and Nelson (6'2" guard) score 11.4 and 11.0 points a game with Coles pulling down 5.4 rebounds also. Nelson picks up assists and steals off the bench. they are two quality non-starters for TCU. The other three starters for TCU, Anderson III (6'2" transfer guard from OSU), Tennyson (6'3 guard), and Udeh (the 6'11" center transfer from Kansas). They score 21.8 points collectively and grab 9.2 rebounds.Anderson is th assist leader and picks up steals. Tennyson can shoot from three-point territory and very low turnover rate. Udeh plays only 16 minutes a game but does pick up a few blocks. The rest of the 3 bench players score 16.2 points and grab 10.5 rebounds a game. The Horned Frogs are truly 10 deep with quality players.

That matches up with Oklahoma's quality depth of 8 players McCollum and Oweh leading the way with 29.6 points between the two of them along with 6.5 rebounds. Uzan and Darhard contribute with strong guard play on offense and defense and scores 16.1 points and 5.3 rebounds. Godwin, Moore, Hugley IV and Soares provide 31.1 points and 18.5 rebounds inside for OU. The Sooners can match up with TCU due to the length of Oweh, Moore, Soares, Godwin and Hugley IV inside when TCU plays a big lineup.

The pace of play will probably cause a lot of action in the center third of the court, from the top of the key to the other top of the key. I think the team that plays the best in that area of the floor may hold an advantage over the other team tomorrow night. The open court could be mostly a blur in Ft. Worth. Handling the ball and picking up steals and causing turnovers could become a big advantage if the play leads to lopsided points by one of the two teams.

The team stats match up pretty closely. Oklahoma shots the ball a little better at all three levels, inside the arc, outside the arc and at the free throw line. But TCU puts up about 5 more shots a game. The rebounds are very close both defensively and offensively. The turnover rate is within 0.4 per game. TCU does pick up more assists and steals however with about an advantage of 8 per game more. Both teams have roughly the same point differential but TCU scores and gives up a few more points on both ends due to their pace of play.

The pace of play, highlighted by the middle third of the floor will be critical for the winning team tomorrow night. If the pace is slower and more controlled on offense due to OU's 3/4 floor press and very good defense man-to-man OU has the advantage. If TCU can make OU move away from that 3/4 press, it will be telling.

I think OU should be conscious of fouls in the game tomorrow night. TCU can rotate 10 compared to OU's eight. those 10 fouls could be a difference maker.

I think the game is important for OU because it is on the road and because of the style of play and who controls the tempo. If OU does that on the road, it will show a sign of significant improvement over last couple of years. Coach Moser has not coached OU to victory in Ft. Worth in the last two years. TCU is 3-1 against Coach Moser as OU won at home in Norman last year.

I am anticipating a win for Coach Moser thanks to his disciplined, strong defensive team who can play offense and rebound well. But the Sooners might a few minutes from Northweather or Kaden Cooper in the game to get to the finish line.

Good luck to the Sooners on Wednesday night late.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooners playing TCU on Wednesday night late.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/9/ ... ash-at-tcu

Boomer Sooner!

[Pokerman]

Pretty even game, but Big 12 refs are at it again. We're not going to get any breaks from them.

[Zgeo]

Sooners are fun to watch…. Behind by 8 with 13 to go….

[EMan]

The Sooners got in quick foul trouble and had way too many turnovers in the first half. Somehow they weathered that storm and hung tough until TCU suddenly got on a run in the second half and hit (I think) three 3-pointers in a row. OU just never found the rhythm from the outside and couldn't stay with the Frogs after that outburst. Oweh is still struggling from the field which is really hampering OU's consistency. However, Uzan played a really good game. Hopefully they'll get back on track and play well going forward.

[gcruse7]

While I never like losing, and especially wanted to win in FW since we go to KU next (where we NEVER win). However after seeing the #1, #2 and #3 teams lose on the road to teams that I think are no better than TCU, it takes a little of the sting off.

[OUBeliever56A]

I thought I posted this before 9 AM this morning, but I just found it, sitting there waiting for me to hit 'submit'. Oh well.

The Oklahoma Sooners took the floor and played well early against TCU as they held a 13-7 five minutes into the game. 10 minutes later, TCU scored to go up 27-25 before expanding their lead to 40-34 at the half. The Sooner quickly tied the score at 40-40 on two McCollum three's as the second half opened up. TCU responded with 7 quick points to lead 47-40 before building the lead to 53-44. Oklahoma battled back to within 5 points on a Hugley IV old fashioned 3-point play at 55-50. TCU came back again and established an 11 point lead at 61-50. Oklahoma briefly got to with 8 points but TCU won by 9 at 80-71.

In the second half, TCU seemed to be able to score with one of Miller, Anderson III or Nelson Jr whenever they needed a bucket. Miller ended with 27 points, Anderson III scored 15 points with Nelson Jr adding 13 to lead TCU in scoring. O'Bannon added 11 off the bench to have 4 players in double-digit points.

The Sooners came out of the gate with Sam Godwin scoring 7 points in the first 3 minutes of the game on nice 'pick and roll' plays. But Godwin did not score again in the game, mostly due to foul issues. McCollum scored 12 in the 2nd half to reach his 17 total points. Uzan, who I thought played very well the whole game, scored 13 with Hugley IV adding 14 and Moore scoring 10 points for four players of their own in double-digits. Uzan had a double-double with 10 assists and added 7 rebounds also.

The biggest stat of the game was the 14 turnovers in the game. Not a bad total, but off of those 14 turnovers, TCU scored 25 points to OU's 11 on TCU's 7 turnovers. That 14 point difference on points off of turnovers probably made the difference in the game as OU played on the road.

I also thought the foul trouble in the 1st half that Oklahoma found themselves in with Godwin, Soares having three fouls and Oweh having 2 fouls slowed Oklahoma down in the first half. Oweh never really got himself into the game last night with only 8 shots in 22 minutes scoring 6 points. I think OU missed his defense also. I thought OU might run into foul issues as I commented above. But maybe the threat of the next foul by Oweh was the real difficulty. Oweh needs to be a bit smarter about where and when he makes reaches or tries to make a steal.

I also thought that Darthard had some key 3-point shots in the game that he simply did not make, 6 of them. I know he would only maybe make 3 maybe 4 on a hot night, but going 0-for the night did hurt a bit. Lately his shooting had been good. Soares also was part of two four-point play on defense. Sometimes it happens to a defender trying to bother a shooter on a 3-point shot. But not twice in the same game. Soares is a better defender than that.

I thought last night night that McCollum had a 3-pointer take away due a bonehead refs call in the corner. The ref felt that McCollum intentionally kicked his foot out to make contact with the defender while shooting the basketball from 19 feet that went in. Are you kidding me? I thought the bucket was taken away from McCollum also. But I could not find that in the game log. I could not even find the foul on McCollum. Did I see that right?

Miller was the tough matchup for Oklahoma as he scored he scored inside and outside with 11 made shots with 9 from inside the arc and 2 outside the arc. He added 3 free throws and picked up 9 rebounds. Between Miller and Anderson III and Nelson Jr, the Sooners could not cut inside the 10-ish point lead for TCU inside the second half of play.

Oklahoma is now 1-1 in the Big 12 with 7 other Big 12 teams, including Houston and Kansas. Yes, Kansas lost last night to UCF by 5 points, 75-70 in Orlando. Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas State are 2-0. BYU, OSU and WV are 0-2. It is going to be a long tough season in Big 12 pay for every team.

Oklahoma goes to Kansas to play on Saturday in a 1 PM game on ESPN+. There will be on less undefeated Big 12 team after Saturday's Kansas State - Texas Tech game in Lubbock in a 3 PM tipoff. The Sooners just need to take the games one game at a time and try to play well in each game.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the loss to TCU on Wednesday night.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/10 ... fort-worth

Boomer Sooner!

[gcruse7]

I thought last night night that McCollum had a 3-pointer take away due a bonehead refs call in the corner. The ref felt that McCollum intentionally kicked his foot out to make contact with the defender while shooting the basketball from 19 feet that went in. Are you kidding me? I thought the bucket was taken away from McCollum also. But I could not find that in the game log. I could not even find the foul on McCollum. Did I see that right?

You are not wrong. I remember that play. It was a weak call. As a matter of fact, when they showed the replay, the minimal contact with his leg and the TCU player didn't occur until the ball was halfway to the basket. Even if they wanted to make the call, why was the basket taken away when the shot was well before any contact.

[Raul]

I saw quite a bit of confusion on defense last night that Porter will get ironed out, hopefully very soon. Too many easy passes & baskets were going through the lane, usually associated with Moore, Soares and maybe Hugley. With Soares, I was actually wondering if he might have been under the weather this week.

On offense, it was just one of those very awkward nights. Fouls didn’t help with the flow, either.

Working hard going forward on some individual and team deficiencies, we should be able to handle TCU on our home court next time. Athleticism + precision team play will carry the day.

[OUBeliever56A]

I saw quite a bit of confusion on defense last night that Porter will get ironed out, hopefully very soon. Too many easy passes & baskets were going through the lane, usually associated with Moore, Soares and maybe Hugley. With Soares, I was actually wondering if he might have been under the weather this week.

On offense, it was just one of those very awkward nights. Fouls didn’t help with the flow, either.

Working hard going forward on some individual and team deficiencies, we should be able to handle TCU on our home court next time. Athleticism + precision team play will carry the day.

The Sooners did look a little lost when we had both Moore and Soares as the two big men in the second half. It might have happened during the first half also.

[Zgeo]

Seems like Farooq was on the basketball team …..

[gcruse7]

we should be able to handle TCU on our home court next time

Unfortunately with the expanded B12 this year, we don't play every team twice. TCU does not have a return trip to Norman. If we see them again, it will be in the B12 tournament or in the NCAA's.