That’s what Oklahoma basketball needed. And to a certain extent, what forward Jacob Groves needed as well.
The Sooners know they can lean on point guard Grant Sherfield to bring it every night, but the Sooners are going to need a lot more than that here coming up.
Groves answered the call, scoring a career-high 26 points in helping OU to an 87-66 victory against visiting Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in the final home game before Big 12 conference play begins in two weeks.
OU was up 6-4 when Groves went on an 8-0 run by himself, and the Sooners were able to be in cruise control for basically the rest of the game.
“It was good. I mean I’ve been waiting for a day like that to come,” Groves said. “I mean, you know, it’s hard and sometimes your days just come and you’re hitting shots, you’re making plays and stuff like that. And so I think obviously my teammates do a great job of finding me when I’m hot, getting me the ball, putting me in positions where I can score. And so it just happened to be my day today.”
He started out hot with 19 points in the first half on 7-for-9 shooting from the field, hitting his final seven attempts. It was indicative of the Sooners, who shot 70 percent (21-30) from the floor in the first half.
Sherfield did his part, quietly scoring 17 points with three assists and zero turnovers. Tanner Groves had 14 points and seven rebounds.
OU led 52-30 at halftime, and the lead shrunk down to 72-59 before a 10-0 run put the game on ice. It was an interesting half from a standpoint of watching Moser trying to maintain the lead but also get his starters some rest and let the bench players show what they can do.
Tip-ins
*Moser always says don’t let your shooting dictate everything else. Freshman guard Los Uzan was an example of that against the Bears.
Starting once again, but Uzan didn’t score a point. Instead, he was the playmaker. Uzan finished with a career-high nine assists and really set the tone early with his passing.
All on a bum ankle.
“What you guys didn't know is he turned his ankle this week and he played 80 percent today,” Moser said. “He turned it. When he went down, we thought it was gonna be long term. It was really one of those screams in practice and you could hear a pin drop.
“He rolled that ankle and the last two days he's been icing it and trying to get that thing going. So for him to come out and still have nine assists and two turnovers...I thought I thought he did a good job with that.”
OU finished with 21 assists on 35 field goals.
*Moser has been asking for more from Otega Oweh or C.J. Noland or Joe Bamisile. The Sooners are going to need that depth.
Oweh and Noland answered the call Saturday. Oweh scored 10 points, while Noland had eight off the bench, shooting a combined 8-for-9 from the field.
“I thought Otega got some steals and plucks in position. He got his athleticism into the game. He got an offensive rebound, he drove passes, finished above the rim a couple times. You just felt his athleticism in the game. I think he’s been practicing that way, and I think that’s a big lift for us.
“CJ, when he hit that one at the end of the half, I kind of went up to him at halftime and put my arm around him like, ‘Good to see.’ It was almost like, ‘whew.’ It was good to see it go in. And for him, to see him knock one down, hopefully that will jump start him.”
Oweh also had three steals.
*Injury bug a bit for OU with Yaya Keita and Benny Schroeder both missing the game. Moser said Keita will miss the rest of the season.
“Yaya’s out for the year. He’s gonna have to have surgery on his shin,” Moser said. “Benny’s just a Grade I ankle sprain. Hopefully it’s short, day to day. But he turned it a couple days (ago) in practice, and he wasn’t able to push off on it so we didn’t dress him. But his is short term, Yaya’s is long term.”
*Up next: OU (8-3) heads to Charlotte to take on Florida on Tuesday night. It will be the final non-conference game before Big 12 action starts vs. Texas at LNC on New Year’s Eve.
