Javian McCollum – Syndication Server

State of the Oklahoma Sooners Men’s basketball program

Can the Oklahoma Sooners continue to live in the transfer portal?

Another year and another offseason of roster turnover for [autotag]Porter Moser[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team. The Sooners are coming off a year of growth but not enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

This marks the third straight season the Sooners have not gone dancing in March, which is unacceptable for a program like Oklahoma. The Sooners also now have their work cut out for them because they have to replace five key pieces from this past year’s team.

[autotag]Le’Tre Darthard[/autotag] and [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag] are out of eligibility. Milos Uzan, John Hugley and Otega Oweh have all entered the transfer portal. The writing seemed to be on the wall as the season was coming to a close but they still create a big hole to fill this offseason.

The Sooners did add two players to this past year’s recruiting class meaning they have four spots to fill in the transfer portal.

Some of the names the Sooners have reportedly been linked to are [autotag]Brandon Garrison[/autotag] from Oklahoma State, [autotag]Sean Pedulla[/autotag] from Virginia Tech and [autotag]Kevin Overton[/autotag] from Drake. What do they all have in common? They all played high school basketball in Oklahoma.

But right now, the state of the program is not good.

Does that mean those guys aren’t buying into Moser’s message? Are they not buying into the vision he has for the program or for them as individual players? What is the disconnect so far?

In this day and age, you can build a great team in the portal. North Carolina State and Alabama both did it. They both have several key pieces that transferred in this year or the year before. It can be done, but Oklahoma and Moser have to start hitting on the big fish.

I get Oklahoma isn’t a “basketball school” and is much more of a “football school”. A lot of people say Purdue is a basketball school and not a football school. Did you know since the 1980-1981 season, Purdue has made one Final Four, whereas Oklahoma has made three? Purdue ended their final four drought this season.

It’s time for the university and the people who support the school to start showing more support to the basketball team. Start raising NIL so they can be competitive in that space in the portal. If the Sooners will start getting competitive, they’ll have no problem getting fans into seats.

But it starts with the school taking it a little more seriously than they have to this point.

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Were the Oklahoma Sooners snubbed from the NCAA Tournament?

The Oklahoma Sooners missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year but were they snubbed?

We’ve now had a couple of days to digest what went down on Selection Sunday. The Oklahoma Sooners found out they would not make the [autotag]NCAA Tournament[/autotag] and instead would be the first team left out.

They then declined to participate in the NIT tournament. But were the Sooners snubbed from being in the tournament? The short answer is, yes. The Sooners should have been over both the [autotag]Virginia Cavaliers[/autotag] and the Michigan State Spartans. Both of them got in due to their recent history in the NCAA Tournament in my opinion.

More: Social media reacts to Oklahoma Sooners NCAA Tournament Snub

Let’s look at Virginia first. Oklahoma had a higher net rating (46 to 54). They had more Quad 1 wins (4 to 2). Virginia went 21-3 in Quad 2-4 games. Oklahoma went 16-0. So, the things the committee claims to look at the most, Oklahoma was better than.

Now, let’s look at Michigan State. Michigan State did have the better net rating (24 to 46). But Oklahoma had more Quad 1 wins (4 to 3). Michigan State went 16-5 in Quad 2-4 games and as I said earlier, Oklahoma went 16-0.

If you want to argue Oklahoma played more Quad 1 games and that’s why they had more wins than both, that’s fine. But neither of the three had a good Quad 1 record.

But if you are Oklahoma and are upset by not getting in, don’t put it in the committee’s hands. Win one more game. Don’t blow a nine-point lead with 7:30 left against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Do what everyone in the conference but yourself and Oklahoma State did and beat the Kansas Jayhawks on your home court. Close out that close game against the No. 1 ranked Houston Cougars. Don’t lay an egg vs. an average at best [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag] team.

The Sooners had their chances but ultimately left it up to other teams and the committee to decide their fate. When you do that, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

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Oklahoma Sooners drop regular season finale to Texas Longhorns

The Oklahoma Sooners dropped their Big 12 regular season finale to the Texas Longhorns 94-40.

The Oklahoma Sooners recovered from another slow start to close the first half trailing by only five. But the Texas Longhorns took it to another level by outscoring the Sooners by nine to win 94-80.

The Sooners fell to 20-11 and 8-10 in Big 12 play.

The Sooners struggled to get their offense going in the first half, especially from three. But late in the half, the Sooners began to find their rhythm and were hitting from deep to close the gap.

But the Longhorns took control in the second half, pushing their lead to as many as 20 over the final 20 minutes. The Sooners struggled to contain Tyrese Hunter, who had a career-high 30 points for the Longhorns, shooting 9 of 13 from the field. Hunter was also 3 of 4 from the three.

Oklahoma got a big game from [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag], who led the Sooners with 21 points on 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 from three.

Despite the return of [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag], the Sooners offense wasn’t consistent enough to hang with the Longhorns for a full 40 minutes and the defense wasn’t much better, allowing the Horns to shoot 63.6% from the field.

The Sooners now head into Big 12 tournament play hoping to make a statement and solidify their NCAA tournament hopes. The Sooners will be the No. 9 seed in the Big 12 tournament and will have a difficult road in Kansas City.

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‘It’s just one of the gutsiest performances that I’ve seen’: Porter Moser on his team’s performance vs. the Cincinnati Bearcats

It wasn’t pretty but given the circumstances, Porter Moser felt it was one of the gutsiest performances he’s seen.

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off a Jekyll and Hyde type of game in their win vs. the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Sooners start and really the entire first half was one to forget.

Then in the second half, they exploded, scoring 40 points and coming back to win a must-win game in overtime.

What made it even more impressive was the Sooners were without their leading scorer [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag]. Their other point guard, [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag], fouled out in the second half. He also had one of his worst games of the season.

Still, without a point guard to end the game on the court, the Sooners found a way.

Porter Moser spoke about just how crazy of a game it was.

“It’s just one of the gutsiest performances that I’ve seen under the circumstances,” Moser said. “You just look at the circumstances with senior night, obviously every game is huge, in nine days we played three of the most physical teams in the country, at Iowa State, Houston and Cincinnati, in nine days with these guys. Then they find out they lose Javian, then Los (Milos Uzan) fouls out. We’re playing with no point guard.”

One of the seniors who stepped up was [autotag]Maks Klanjscek[/autotag] off the bench. He hasn’t played a whole lot this season but he had a 7-2 run on his own late in the second half to tie the game.

Overall, it was a complete team effort. It took everyone to pull off a win they shouldn’t have and get them to that ever-important 20-win total.

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‘We’re in good shape’: Porter Moser on the Oklahoma Sooners’ NCAA Tournament chances

The Sooners had been struggling lately but with their win vs. Cincinnati, Porter Moser believes they belong in the tournament.

After a hard-fought game, the Oklahoma Sooners were able to win their 20th game of the season. That’s big in several different ways.

One of those is it’s the first 20-win season at Oklahoma since the 2018-2019 season when they lost in the second round of the [autotag]NCAA Tournament[/autotag]. But it’s the first 20-win regular season since [autotag]Buddy Hield[/autotag]’s Final Four team in 2015-2016. It’s also big because it almost guarantees a berth in the NCAA Tournament, which would be their first time back since the 2020-2021 season.

Porter Moser discussed whether he has talked to his players about their NCAA Tournament chances. “They know how important each game was,” Moser said. “They know where we were at. We had to get another big win against a really good team. That’s probably a Quad 2 win. We’re going to Texas now and they were talking about that more than the other. But they know. We’re just trying to stack some wins now, but I think we’re in good shape.”

It remains to be seen if Oklahoma will get an NCAA Tournament berth. The latest Bracketology had them as a 10 seed, so a loss could have been detrimental.

They have a chance to add to it as Oklahoma takes on the Texas Longhorns this weekend who could be without one of their best players. Then, in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] Tournament, it looks like Oklahoma will face the [autotag]TCU Horned Frogs[/autotag] or Texas again as things stand right now. But that won’t be official until games are played later on in the week.

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Best photos from the Oklahoma Sooners overtime win over Cincinnati on Senior Night

The Oklahoma Sooners battled in their overtime win over the Cincinnati Bearcats and here are the best photos from the night.

It’s not about how you start but how you finish. And the Oklahoma Sooners finished strong in their overtime win over Cincinnati.

On senior night, the Sooners were down big early in the first half but battled back to trail by one at halftime. Even after the Bearcats extended their lead back to double digits in the second half, the Sooners rallied once again.

On a night with no [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] and what was a rough outing for Milos Uzan, the Sooners got big-time performances from [autotag]Le’Tre Darthard[/autotag], [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag], and [autotag]Jalon Moore[/autotag], who combined for 50 of Oklahoma’s 74 points.

The win puts the Sooners at 20 on the season and likely solidifies they’ll be a top 10 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Oklahoma has one more chance to make a statement this Saturday when they travel to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns.

Here are the best photos from the Oklahoma Sooners overtime win over the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Oklahoma Sooners outlast Cincinnati 74-71 in overtime, secure win No. 20

Oklahoma Sooners outlast Cincinnati Bearcats 74-71.

Tuesday night was a messy affair in the Lloyd Noble Center, but the Oklahoma Sooners came out on top when the dust cleared. After a rough start, they clawed their way to a hard-earned 20th win.

Oklahoma hosted Cincinnati for what will go down as Oklahoma’s final Big 12 home game. While the game ended with a 74-71 win in overtime, it was not without its own challenges.

Before the game, it was announced that starter [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] would not be playing after injuring his shoulder during practice.

So before the game started, Oklahoma was down a starter as they got set to face a desperate Cincinnati team. The Bearcats, coached by Wes Miller, came out like the more hungry team as they played with more energy than the Sooners in the opening 20 minutes.

After falling behind 14-3 early, Oklahoma methodically worked its way back into the game. As he’s done many times this year, Rivaldo Soares paced the Sooners early with 10 points and was the only Sooner in double figures as OU put up a paltry 27 points at halftime.

The Sooners shot 40 percent from the field in the half, but the big story was the performance of sophomore Milos Uzan.

On a day when the Sooners needed him to up his contributions without McCollum in the lineup, Uzan was held scoreless in the first half. He also had two turnovers and sat a significant amount thanks to two fouls.

The Sooners entered the break down 28-27 and were fortunate to remain in the game after their poor start.

The second half was even worse offensively for the Sooners, as they shot 32% from the field. However, they shot a surprising 50% from long distance, and they cashed in on 21 of 23 free throws in the final 20 minutes.

A back-and-forth affair came down to the waning moments of the game.

While down two with 17.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Porter Moser drew up a crispy inbounds play to free Le’Tre Darthard in the corner for an open 3-pointer to give OU a one-point lead. Oklahoma fouled Darthard’s former Utah Valley teammate Aziz Bandaogo with mere seconds left, and Bandaogo hit one of two free throws to send the game to overtime.

Oklahoma found its defense in the extra period. Sam Godwin and Otega Oweh came through with clutch buckets, while Darthard went 3 of 4 from the free throw line to close things out. The Bearcats’ last attempt to tie the game clanged off the rim and Darthard secured teh rebound to seal the win for the Sooners on Senior Night.

Soares, Darthard, Godwin, and Maks Klanjscek were honored Tuesday night before the game.

Oklahoma found a way despite being without Javian McCollum and arguably the worst performance of his young career from Milos Uzan. Uzan shot 1 of 10 for 2 points and fouled out in the second half.

Le’Tre Darthard finished as the team leader in points with 18, while Soares and Jalon Moore dropped 16 a piece. Jizzle James, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Edgerrin James, had 16 to lead the Bearcats.

It wasn’t pretty and deserved zero style points, but Oklahoma found a way.

The Sooners were a 10 seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology update before the game, and this win should solidify their case as an NCAA tournament team.

If Tuesday’s win wasn’t enough, Oklahoma will have another chance to pad their resume as they travel to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. They’ll have a chance for revenge in the final regular season iteration of the Red River Rivalry in the BIg 12 before both schools depart for the SEC.

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Oklahoma Sooners preparing for the size of the Cincinnati Bearcats

The Sooners gear up for their final home game of the season against one of the biggest teams in the league.

The Oklahoma Sooners are just days removed from a hard-fought loss to the No. 1 ranked team, the Houston Cougars. Now, they finish off the regular season this week starting with a game Tuesday night vs. the [autotag]Cincinnati Bearcats[/autotag].

The Sooners defeated the Bearcats 69-65 on the road earlier in the season. That would probably be their best chance to get to 20 wins as they close the season on Saturday against a Texas Longhorns team that blew them out in Norman earlier in the year.

Porter Moser spoke about the challenges they’ll face against Cincinnati. “They are huge,” Moser said. “They can really block shots and guard. They’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the country and in our conference. They’re really physical. We just played physical guards in Houston, Iowa State, and it’s another one.”

Cincinnati’s size could play a big factor in this game. Even though Oklahoma won the first meeting, the Bearcats’ size really bothered them as they shot 41% from the field and had seven of their shots blocked. But the Sooners were able to out-rebound them, which was huge in a close back-and-forth game.

They are going to have to have that same defensive effort and effort inside if they want to come out with another win.

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‘They’re hurting’: Porter Moser on the mood in the locker room after tough loss to Houston

While there are no moral victories, Oklahoma can take a few positives away from their game vs. the Houston Cougars.

The Oklahoma Sooners followed up one of their worst performances of the season with one of their best performances in their two-point loss to the Houston Cougars.

The Sooners took the nation’s top team to the wire but ultimately lost to the Houston Cougars on a last-second shot. Still, there were a lot of positives to take away from the game. The Cougars have one of the best defenses in the country, and Oklahoma put up 85 points while shooting 52.7% from the field and hitting 12 threes.

Porter Moser spoke after the game about the mood in the locker room after a hard-fought loss. “It was a tough vibe in there,” Moser said. “It wasn’t like they were just happy to be close. I mean they fought their tales off. I thought they believed, their energy level, they made big plays obviously Houston made big plays as well. They’re hurting and that’s a good sign.”

There are no moral victories in sports but there are a lot of positives you can take away from this performance. This was the first time since probably the Iowa State game in Norman to start [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] play where the Sooners looked like the top 25 team they had been for most of the year. They also played great offense after really struggling in that aspect in conference play.

The question now is, did they play that well because they got up for a big game against the No. 1 team in the nation, or did they play that way because they are starting to turn a corner?

It won’t take long to find out. They play the Cincinnati Bearcats in Norman on Tuesday, and that’s absolutely a game they should win.

Even though the loss was heartbreaking, good teams find ways to take the positives out of it and build upon those. We’ll see what kind of team this year’s Oklahoma team is shortly.

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Oklahoma falls to No. 1 Houston 87-85 on last second jump shot by Jamal Shead

Oklahoma comes up short 87-85 in upset bid of No.1 Houston.

Oklahoma emptied the tank on Saturday evening before a packed-out Lloyd Noble Center as they took on the nation’s number one team, the Houston Cougars.

Though the Sooners failed to knock off yet another highly-ranked Big 12 foe on Saturday evening, there’s certainly no shame in the effort they put on the court.

Jamal Shead, one of the nation’s best players, sent the Sooner faithful home in disappointed after hitting a mid-range jump shot as the seconds ticked down to give the Cougars and former Oklahoma head coach [autotag]Kelvin Sampson[/autotag] the 87-85 win.

In what many figured would be a defensive, grind-it-out affair, the Sooners and Cougars exploded offensively from the opening tip throughout the contest.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with threes raining from each side in a free-flowing game. OU was 7 of 13 from beyond the arc and 10 of 10 from the free throw line in the game’s first 20 minutes. Overall in the first half, they shot 14 of 28 from the field, while Houston shot 67% percent in the first half.

Rivaldo Soares led the way with 10 points on 3 of 3 shooting and 3 of 3 from the charity stripe. Sam Godwin added eight of his team-leading 17 points.

Houston adjusted at the break before racing out to a 56-47 lead before pushing it out to 63-51with over 13 minutes left.

The Sooners responded to fight back into the game with clutch shooting and timely stops. With the Sooners down 85-82, Sam Godwin was fouled. He made the first of two free throws, but the rebound was saved by point guard Milos Uzan. After a timeout, the Sooners scored off the ensuing inbound pass on a nifty drive to the cup by [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag].

On the Cougars’ final possession, Oklahoma got the initial stop, but Shead collected his own rebound from the scrum and hit the buzzer beater to end the Sooners’ upset bit.

The Sooners had five players finish in double figures while shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from three.

Houston will head to Orlando to take on UCF Wednesday evening.

The Sooners will host Cincinnati on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for their final Big 12 home game before heading on the road to face Texas in Austin on the final day of the regular season.