If you would have tried to figure out what to make of Oklahoma before the season, the two names everybody would have mentioned were seniors Austin Reaves and Brady Manek.
The Sooners were only going to go as far as that duo could take them. That hasn’t really been the case, but Saturday was a reminder of what can happen when those two are playing at a high level.
Sparked by Reaves’ return and keyed by some strong inside play by Manek, the Sooners were able to hold off a tough charge from visiting Iowa State in a 79-72 victory to move OU to 12-5 overall and 7-4 in Big 12 play.
Reaves had missed the last two games because of COVID-19/contact tracing, and you could tell he was back immediately. A game removed from the team having three assists, Reaves had eight of his own to go with 16 points and eight rebounds, becoming only the second OU player (Trae Young) to go for 16-8-8 in a game.
“It felt good to be back, for sure,” Reaves said. “The coaches and players put me in a really good position tonight to do what we could do to get a win… I was really proud of those guys with how they fought. They beat Bama here. They went down to Tech and gave it a good fight.”
OU trailed 58-57 before going on an 11-0 run to give some cushion. But ISU kept coming, making two of their 16 3-pointers to narrow the margin to 68-64 before OU took care of business down the final four minutes.
Since Manek’s return from COVID-19, he hasn’t felt like that guy who has been among the best players in the conference the last couple of years.
Slowly regaining his strength, and it felt like Manek officially turned that corner vs. the Cyclones. He went for nine points with 15 rebounds and four assists. That’s a career high for Manek in both rebounds and assists.
“There for a few weeks I was out and then I came back, wasn't myself, wasn't getting to play much because of what was going on just with short of breath all that stuff from the injury and the COVID,” Manek said. “Feels good to be back. I've kind of gotten into the swing of things, kind of found my role. We've got a lot of scorers on this team and doesn't need me to put up 20 a night.
“It needs me to play good defense, guard the ball screen, block out and just set good screens, roll, pop, do whatever. It doesn't always fall on me to score. We've got plenty of guys to do that.”
But what we’ve learned is OU is absolutely more than just Manek and Reaves, and the transfers came to play once again. Mo Gibson had 18 points, including four three-pointers. Elijah Harkless was good for 19 points (season high) and six rebounds.
Notes
*Seeing more of that depth for OU as it was Jalen Hill getting those closing minutes. He earned them, playing really well in the second half and finishing with 11 points and three rebounds.
“Jalen was rebounding the ball so well for us,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “Just the combination of matchups and everything and going well for us in the last five, six minutes for us. Depth is huge. Different guys, different times. Jalen came in off the bench for us and thought he did a tremendous job.”
*Harkless is not afraid of the moment. With the score 68-64, it was back-to-back buckets by Harkless to give OU some breathing room.
It was an emotional day for Harkless, whose mother made the trip from California to watch her son play for the first time as a Sooner.
“Yea, it was great. Couldn’t be more pleased for Elijah to finish a game the way he did with his mom here,” Kruger said. “He’s been terrific. He’ll keep working at it, keep making progress.”
*OU gets a week off now. The Sooners were scheduled to host No. 2 Baylor on Wednesday evening but that game has been postponed because of COVID-19 issues for the Bears. OU is at West Virginia at noon next Saturday.
