5 players Porter Moser and OU hoops should consider via the transfer portal

A look at a few names the Oklahoma Sooners are targeting in the transfer portal and a couple more they should make a run at.

Oklahoma basketball is experiencing a retooling following consecutive years with no NCAA tournament berths. This year’s Sooners finished last in the Big 12 and, along with Texas Tech, were the only teams from the conference that didn’t make the tourney.

Those results have likely made Porter Moser’s seat somewhat warm, as making the NCAA Tournament is a fairly reasonable bar for most Power Five programs. Oklahoma has a reasonably strong history of basketball success as a program but has never won a national title.

No one expects Porter Moser to turn Oklahoma into the second coming of Coach K and Duke. Still, consistent tournament appearances and fighting for the Big 12 crown seem reasonable.

The blowback from two consecutive seasons of missed postseasons has been evident. [autotag]Jalen Hill[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Groves[/autotag], Benny Schröder, Joe BamisileBijan Cortes, and [autotag]C.J. Noland[/autotag] are all no longer with the team after entering the transfer portal. Noland committed to Saint Louis, while Schröder landed with George Washington.

These departures also combine with Grant Sherfield’s decision to pursue NBA opportunities. At the same time, Tanner Groves has decided to move on from college basketball entirely after graduating.

As it stands, Oklahoma has lost eight players this offseason, with six of those players logging starter or significant bench minutes. Oklahoma essentially needs a brand-new team. They bring in two four-star prospects in Kaden Cooper and Jacolb Cole, but that won’t be enough especially considering they are true freshmen.

The transfer portal is the only way to rebuild this roster, and we have a few targets Oklahoma should look at.

Sooners forward Jalen Hill to enter the transfer portal

Oklahoma loses another player to the transfer portal with the departure of forward Jalen Hill.

Oklahoma’s basketball program is in some murky waters at the moment. After a tough season that saw them finish last in the Big 12, the Sooners are undergoing some serious roster turnover.

Several seniors are moving on, and a slew of key contributors have left via the transfer portal.

Before Monday, Oklahoma had already seen [autotag]Benny Schroder[/autotag], [autotag]Joe Bamisile[/autotag], [autotag]Bijan Cortes[/autotag], and C.J. Nolan enter the portal. CJ Noland announced Monday he was taking his talents to Saint Louis.

Senior forward Jalen Hill will also enter the transfer portal, per CBS Sports Jon Rothstein.

Hill quickly entered the rotation as a freshman for the Sooners in 2019 before becoming a full-time starter as a junior.

The Las Vegas native had the best season of his college career in 2022-23, averaging a career-high 9.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. His leadership and defense were integral to everything the Sooners wanted to accomplish on the court. Hill was athletic enough to guard 3’s and 4’s and play small ball 5. He was capable enough to switch and stay with point guards in the screen action.

During conference play, he turned his game up a notch and averaged 10.3 points per game on 51 percent shooting, finishing the season as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

The departure also marks the last holdover from the Lon Kruger era. With Hill out the door, every player on the OU roster now or going forward will be recruited or brought in by Porter Moser.

Oklahoma must be very active in the transfer portal to fill out its needs. They don’t have enough players now to fill out the roster.

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Sooners on wrong end of blowout, downed by the TCU Horned Frogs 79-52

Oklahoma Sooners blown out by the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, 79-52.

Things aren’t fun for the Oklahoma men’s basketball team right now. Their season might have hit rock bottom today as they lost to TCU 79-52 on the road.

From the tip, TCU looked and played like the better team. Any signs of a hangover from their road upset over Kansas were nonexistent. OU turned the ball over on four of its first five possessions of the game, helping the Horned Frogs race out to an 11-0 lead. From that point, the avalanche just kept rolling downhill for Porter Moser’s team.

Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Mike Miles was in a zone for TCU, finishing with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 10-of-10 mark from the charity stripe. C.J. Noland led the way for Oklahoma in points with 11 but still finished -24 for the game. Grant Sherfield, Oklahoma’s offensive engine, was bottled up. His five points on 2-of-11 shooting were just a footnote in this game.

TCU’s long and athletic defense swarmed Oklahoma all night and forced them to play way too fast. The Sooners don’t play the fastest but entered the game as the nation’s 20th-ranked field-goal percentage team. TCU’s 66th-ranked defense showed up in a big way to speed them up, and the Frogs did a good job contesting shots throughout the game.

A 44-27 halftime deficit didn’t get any better for the Sooners after the break. The Sooners were on the wrong end of another 11-0 run out of the locker room. Moser had seen enough and gave younger guys like Otega Oweh and Benny Schroder extended minutes in the blowout. The TCU lead ballooned to 31 points, and the rest is history.

Oklahoma’s starters combined for just 20 points. For a normally scrappy Sooners team that has played a lot of tough games, Tuesday’s performance felt like the wheels completely falling off on this Sooners’ season.

The 27-point defeat is OU’s worst loss since it’s a 77-47 loss to Baylor on Jan. 28, 2019.

Oklahoma will step away from the Big 12 grind to do battle with the SEC’s best team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off between the Sooners and the Crimson Tide is slated for 1 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center.

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Oklahoma Basketball: What are the Sooners adding in the early signing class?

Here’s a look at the three guards Porter Moser and Oklahoma men’s basketball signed during the early signing period.

Oklahoma men’s basketball plays its second game of the Porter Moser era tonight inside the Lloyd Noble Center when the Sooners welcome in an old friend. That would be former OU assistant and now UTSA head coach Steve Henson.

It’s the fifth consecutive season the two teams have squared off. OU holds a 6-0 advantage over UTSA all-time and a 4-0 record against the Roadrunners in Norman.

OU tipped off the Moser era with a 77-59 win over Northwestern State. Junior small forward Jalen Hill led the Sooners’ second-half surge, scoring 12 points after halftime and finishing with a team-high and career high 15 points. Senior center Tanner Groves joined Hill with 15 points himself. Senior guard Umoja Gibson was OU’s other double-figure scorer with 13 points in the season-opener.

Those weren’t the only fireworks of the week, though. With the early signing period getting underway midway through this week, Moser signed three future Sooners: 6-foot-6 guard Otega Oweh out of Blairstown, N.J., 6-foot-4 point guard Milos Uzan from Las Vegas, Nev., and 6-foot-7 wing Benny Schröder via Munich, Germany.

Oweh is rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals. He’s a consensus top-100 prospect nationally according to all three services (No. 73 by 247Sports, No. 76 by Rivals and No. 89 by ESPN).

Oweh has appeared in 56 career games for Blair Academy. In the 2019-20 season for Blair Academy, Oweh averaged 14.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.9 assists per game.

He also earned the title of Nike EYBL Peach Jam Breakout Player of the Session in helping lead Team Final EYBL (Pa.) to a 17U Peach Jam title. Oweh averaged 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 assists per game with Team Final EYBL (Pa.).

Moser joined the “T-Row in the Morning Show” on Friday with Toby Rowland and TJ Perry to discuss the signings of Oweh, Uzan and Schröder.

“They fit us. They upgrade us. High character guys. Guys that this fan base will love rooting for. All three guys are high energy,” Moser told Rowland.

Moser also broke down Oweh’s attributes with Rowland.

“Starting with Otega Oweh. 6-5, uber athletic. He had the third-most transition points in the entire Nike EYBL circuit this summer. Really gets out and runs. Can score it, defend it. Two-way player. Just a lot of energy and bounce. Plays way above the rim,” Moser said of Oweh.

Uzan is a long, rangy point guard that ranked No. 52 on the ESPN100. He’s listed as a four-star prospect by ESPN and 247Sports and a three star by Rivals.

Uzan led Desert Pines High School to the 2020 Nevada state championship game. After that, Uzan attended the 2021 Geico Top Flight Invite with Dream City Christian (Ariz.).

He also played for Prolific Prep in the 30-game Grind Session in Arizona and averaged 13 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.

“Milos Uzan. He’s a long point guard. One of the most coveted point guards in the country. There’s not a lot of true, true point guards nowadays. He’s a coach’s son. He’s 6-4. He can see over ball screens. He won the Adidas circuit. So, we’ve got the winner of the Nike circuit, the Adidas circuit, so they played on some really good teams,” Moser said.

The final piece of the early signing period for Oklahoma is Schröder from Germany. Schröder was listed as the top international prospect by ESPN.

Schroder, 18, is considered one of the most promising European prospects committing to the college route. He averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in just 23 minutes per game at the FIBA U18 European Challengers this summer for Germany, finishing second in scoring and third in player efficiency rating (PER) at the event while converting 71% of his field goal attempts. He also led Germany in scoring and was one of the top per-minute scorers at the U16 European Championship in 2019. – Jonathan Givony, ESPN

Schröder plays for Kickz IBAM (International Basketball Academy Munich) and averages 29 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Moser talked about what Schröder adds for the Sooners.

“And then Benny Schröder from Germany who I think the fans are going to love him. He’s uber-athletic. I mean, really gets the ball. He can play-make at 6-7, can shoot it,” Moser said of Schröder.

Moser summarized what he likes the most about this class so far.

“All three guys bring an energy. They can be two-way players, meaning offense and defense. I think they’ve just got an energy about them. That’s what fits me. Those are the kind of guys I like to recruit. Really good start for us to start off in the fall,” Moser said.

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