Advertisement
basketball Edit

Sooners suffer first hiccup

When all the new pieces for Oklahoma basketball play as one unit, it has been a fun first couple of weeks of the season under first-year head coach Porter Moser.

Sunday afternoon saw the other side of that coin because sometimes not being familiar with tendencies of players, of situations can derail things.

That was the case for OU in a 73-70 loss to Utah State in the championship of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. It’s the first loss of the season for the Sooners, who are 4-1 heading into a 7 p.m. home game vs. Houston Baptist on Wednesday.

This one stings a bit, though, because of the way the Sooners had been able to figure things out during any adverse moments vs. East Carolina in the first round and Indiana State in the semifinals. And even through the first 35 minutes vs. the experienced Aggies, the Sooners looked like they were poised to hoist the trophy.

“We have to get better. We were up 6 and anyone who was watching the game saw it,” Moser said. “We’re up six, under four, and we took three ill-advised 3s in a row. You have to understand time and score. It starts with me. I said it on the radio. If they don’t know it, it starts with me.

“Just used to understanding possessions and that’s the process of new coaches, new players, we’re all together and haven’t played a lot of games together. They all want to win. I’m not coaching effort in that locker room. We need guard leadership on the floor. I thought we grew a lot. We can’t let this loss go to waste. We have to learn from it.

An Elijah Harkless three-pointer gave OU a 64-58 lead with 5:06 left in the game, but it was a combination of missed shots, bad shots and turnovers that ultimately doomed the Sooners.

Seven of OU’s next eight possessions were either a missed three-pointer or a turnover, and USU took advantage.

After Utah State’s Justin Bean drained two free throws to make it 73-70 with 4 seconds left, the Aggies elected to foul Jordan Goldwire before he could attempt a potential game-tying three-pointer.

Goldwire, however, missed the first free throw and USU grabbed the loose ball and let time expire.

“If you're coaching a team for many, many years and you have veteran guys who have been with you, it would've been surprising,” Moser said. “But there's so much newness to what we're doing. We're just in our first few games together. We're yelling time and score. Some guys are in roles they haven't been in – you know – late games, and they just took some ill-advised shots.

“But we've got to grow from this. We've got to establish some guard leadership down the stretch. I've got to help them with that. I've got to help them with that.”

Tanner Groves led OU with 18 points, adding seven rebounds. Mo Gibson had 16 points, including going 4 of 7 from three-point territory. Jalen Hill had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Invitational observations

*After a pretty solid first two games, just an off afternoon for Goldwire in the championship. He has to be the calming presence for OU, but he had five turnovers against USU.

*Freshman C.J. Noland continues to make plays in spurts. It feels like it’s gonna be sooner than later before he really starts to get major minutes. He had five points with two rebounds, two assists and two steals Sunday.

*Hill and Elijah Harkless will be the defensive heart and soul of the team. It will be imperative for those guys to stay out of foul trouble.

*Tanner Groves had 12 points and fouled out in Thursday’s win, and OU struggled to find offense with him on the bench. He bounced back with 24 points Friday and 18 on Sunday, giving you the strong impression he’s gonna be the crunch-time scorer. Or at least the ball should be in his hands and then let him decide what’s the best play.

*Just way too many three-pointers. OU was 9-of-33 from beyond the arc. The Sooners had been taking really good shots because of spacing and passing but couldn’t get the same type of flow going vs. the Aggies.

Advertisement