It’s not everybody, but you get the feeling for the majority of transfers or grad transfers that there is this sentiment that they deserve to start at their new school.
But for Oklahoma to be successful, it has needed transfer guard Umoja Gibson to come off the bench. And when he does what he did Saturday vs. West Virginia, nobody is complaining.
Gibson was phenomenal in helping the Sooners to a 75-71 win against the ninth-ranked Mountaineers to move to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12 conference.
It wasn’t a must-win game but after dropping one to Texas Tech in heartbreaking fashion and now heading to Waco and Lawrence next week, sure felt like Sooners needed this one.
Gibson did his part, scoring 29 points and making eight 3-pointers. He was a big reason why the Sooners had a 38-20 halftime lead. He was also a huge reason why he made sure OU didn’t falter after WVU came back to tie the game on multiple occasions in the second half.
“Umoja is a guy – he’s every coach’s dream,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “He comes in, works his tail off, before practice, after practice. If he starts, fine. If he doesn’t start, fine. He’s saying whatever is good for the team he’s ready to do it. You want that attitude from every player.
“Umoja is great. He’s great and certainly a guy that can make shots. Thought he did a terrific job defensively on the ball, too, Especially there in the first half. Guarded the ball with his quickness, he can do that. He had a terrific game.”
After getting out to the big lead, Kruger felt OU maybe did a little much looking at the clock in the first part of the second half, hoping to run out the time.
Eventually the game was tied with 10 minutes to go, and the Sooners went back to executing at a high level. If not executing, at least the fight was there.
Nowhere was that more apparent than the effort from Brady Manek. With OU nursing a 62-60 lead and under four minutes left, he rebounded a missed three-pointer attempt by Austin Reaves. Kicked it out to Elijah Harkless, who missed a 3-point attempt. Grabbed it again to hit Reaves for a downtown connect and the 65-60 lead that got OU out of the danger zone.
“Coming into this game, we knew that we needed to play tougher than them,” said Manek, who finished with seven points and six rebounds. “They like to bully people. We just needed to come in and hit them first. It got chippy there for a little bit. We had a couple of guys get into it.
“That was just a good play. I went in for the first one and Jalen kind of tipped it around. I came up with it. I gave it to EJ, EJ shot it and got lucky on the opposite side and got the second one. We have to play more physical than West Virginia. They’re known for their physicality. I think we did that.”
Gibson noticed it, but he just kept fighting.
“I’m kinda used to being the smallest player on the court,” Gibson said. “So, they’re going to try to shove me, push me around but it’s the heart. Heart over height.”
Notes
*Kruger praised the effort of Kur Kuath. Coming off the bench, the senior had six points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
*It was not Reaves’ shooting night, going just 1 of 9 from 3-point territory, but he managed to handle the ball well down the stretch and finished with 13 points.
