Simply put—Oklahoma’s practice on Thursday was intense.
Head coach Lon Kruger had his team listening acutely to every word coming out of his mouth. Assistant coaches Jim Molinari and Carlin Hartman were barking orders for their guys to compete for all of practice, their voices echoing off the walls of the practice gym inside the Lloyd Noble Center.
“We got to be more physical. We’re still working in that direction, moving in that direction,” Kruger told media after practice. “Certainly much improved over two weeks ago, over a month ago and we still got two and a half weeks left, we gotta continue to move in a good direction.”
Kruger saw it as fitting to have a physical practice as the Sooners have faced more physical opponents over the past month.
“When you think about two weeks ago, we’re much farther along right now than we were prior to the West Virginia game,” Kruger said. “Playing against teams like West Virginia, like Baylor, like Kansas, like anyone in the league really, you’re getting experience every time you play.”
While getting better, the Sooner’s physicality went passed the whistle on occasion.
“I would say (practice), it was really physical,” Brady Manek said. “Kinda put the better players against each other four on four and kinda went at it. (We) Had a couple guys get into it, it was very competitive.”
Oklahoma needs that competitive fire as they come down the home stretch into March. Following two tough losses to No. 3 Kansas on the road and No. 1 Baylor at home, the Sooners have just five more regular-season games to plead their case to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Currently slotted as a nine-seed via Bracket Matrix, Oklahoma has to take care of business against lesser opponents in the Big 12. The Sooners still control their own destiny as they square off against two tournament teams in No. 18 West Virginia and current eight-seed Texas Tech left to play once more.
By the looks of Thursday’s practice, Oklahoma is ready to turn up the intensity as they look to solidify a spot in the Big Dance.
The Sooners return to action on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT against Oklahoma State on the road.
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