There wasn’t a more fitting end to Oklahoma’s season than what the Sooners went through Sunday night.
A perfect microcosm to close out the first year of head coach Porter Moser. A lot of good, a lot to be excited about but coming up just short when it mattered most.
One final one-possession loss for the Sooners in a 70-68 defeat against visiting St. Bonaventure in the second round of the NIT to end the year at 19-16 overall.
Super senior Marvin Johnson had a nice look to tie the game in the final seconds but his shot caromed off the rim, Bonnies grabbed the ball and threw it down court and let the clock expire.
“First of all, I hate to see it end with these guys,” Moser said. “I think anytime you come to an end and you’re not going to be with that group anymore because we asked so much of this group — new coaching staff, new teammates coming together. And then you’re in a tough stretch. EJ got hurt, came back and asked them to regroup and to win five out of six going into this game. They gave everything they could.
“Mo, absolutely unbelievable performances down the stretch. He won’t say anything. He won’t make an excuse. He hasn’t had a rep in practice this week with his back. For him, we didn’t even know he was going to play and to have that kind of performance, that’s the kind of competitor Mo Gibson is.”
Gibson, struggling with a back injury, but you never would have known with his 26 points, including two monster 3-pointers in the final minutes to keep the game competitive.
Gibson, understandably, didn’t address whether he will return to OU for one more season. He took part in senior night a few weeks ago but does have the option to come back because of the COVID rule.
A decision for another day, obviously.
“Nah, man. I'm not even thinking about that right now. I'm just thinking about the L we just took,” Gibson said.
The Sooners are only guaranteed to lose super seniors Ethan Chargois, Jordan Goldwire and Johnson. Everybody else is eligible to return. And some, like Tanner and Jacob Groves and Elijah Harkless, have already said they will.
Gibson is the big question mark. Hard to do in the heat of the moment, but Moser took time to reflect on the first year and what it meant. The challenges that came with it and ultimately, attempting to build that oh-so important culture and attitude.
“How you build a program is then when the new guys come in, you have a foundation of guys that are like, ‘This is how it goes. This is how we do things. This is how we do things.’ It was new to everybody,” Moser said. “You know, I was in the NCAA Bubble last year for 15 days. Like four or five days later, I’m in Norman. Then I’m trying to move forward, I’m trying to put together a new team in a pandemic.
“And then when we finally got together and starting working out, it was everything from terminology, you know, I mean from scratch. Now we come back and in the workouts, we’ll have spring workouts with whoever is coming back. And then the summer when everyone gets together, you got a foundation of older guys helping the new guys.
“That’s how you build the program is when you get a group of guys, the new ones, you’re adding and continuing to grow your talent. And then when they get there, the group that’s already been there is like this is how this is done. This is our culture. And that’s when it starts to go. This is just a year like no other because only a couple of them played together. And then everybody else was new. And it was from scratch.”
OU beat three teams that reached the Sweet 16, and now all focus will turn toward recruiting and the transfer portal. But it should be a lot easier for Moser this time around.
