OU still fighting, upsets ISU
Oklahoma basketball head coach Porter Moser said it. And if you didn’t believe it, what his Sooners did at No. 23 Iowa State proves it once again.
There’s no telling this season has had more downs than ups, but the one constant has been OU continuing to show the fight.
It was on display in a surprising 61-50 upset victory at Iowa State on Saturday afternoon, keeping Hilton Coliseum relatively quiet for most of the day.
“But right now, I'm in it,” said Moser when asked by SoonerScoop.com about the toll the season has taken. “I'm trying to win games. A winning streak starts with one, and we try to get that. That's what my mindset is. I'm not even thinking about me, self-pity, nothing. I'm not even thinking like that. My mind frame is all about getting the Sooners a win. Getting us going back in the right direction.”
They had a chance to roll over and pack it in. The Sooners didn’t score in the first five minutes and trailed 14-3 before finally waking up.
What happened? Takeaways from the couch on a Saturday.
*A lot of mini-storylines to follow, but nothing was bigger than Jacob Groves having his best game of the season.
Groves scored 16 points at ISU, when he had scored 12 points combined in the previous eight games. He went 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point territory and forced the Cyclones to stay honest on him all day.
Nobody needed that more than Groves. Moser has said in the past about Groves fighting through his funk with a positive attitude. That work was rewarded in Ames.
*One Groves brother to the other with Tanner playing a complete game. He finished with four fouls, but he wasn’t really in foul trouble and was able to play 33 minutes.
He finished with nine points, 13 defensive rebounds and three blocks. If OU gets 25 points and 18 rebounds from the Groves’ brothers, the Sooners are going to win a lot of those games.
*OU had a second run in them. Something we’ve seen often is OU get down, fight to get back and then have nothing left in the tank when there’s another run against them.
The Sooners trailed 28-23 at halftime and began the half with a 19-4 run, but it became a bit of an offensive slog at 48-39 with under eight minutes to go.
That’s when OU found another string of possessions where it was able to execute and stretch the lead to 56-42 and remove all doubt heading into the final media timeout.
*How did that lead stretch? Freshman point guard Milos Uzan. Not in the scoring department (seven points), but in running the show.
Moser has let Grant Sherfield play more and more off the ball as the season has progressed and this was a day where Uzan showed why.
Uzan had seven assists, including a couple of crucial ones during their efficient run with around five minutes to go.
*OU made 10 3-pointers, including seven in the second half. And the Sooners had a 39-27 rebound advantage to negate the 18 turnovers OU committed.
*Up next: OU (14-15 overall, 4-12 Big 12) at No. 14 Kansas State on Wednesday. The Sooners close out the regular season next Saturday vs. No. 24 TCU.