John Hugley IV – Syndication Server

‘I’ve got to be better as a head coach for him’: Porter Moser believes he has to help Luke Northweather more

Porter Moser believes it’s up to him to help out freshman Luke Northweather more.

The Oklahoma Sooners were down two key reserves, Rivaldo Soares and John Hugley, in their game against the Kansas Jayhawks and it’s unclear when they’ll return. One of the guys who had to step up in that game was freshman [autotag]Luke Northweather[/autotag].

Northweather struggled in the game going 1 of 4 with two points and one rebound in 16 minutes. Ultimately, the game and moment just looked too big for him. Which is common for a lot of young players.

Porter Moser talked about how he has to help him come along a little faster. “We’ve got to help him as a coach,” Moser said. “With his confidence, he’s a good passer but he was getting kind of caught there with one dribble and picking it up. I’ve got to help him. I’ve got to be better as a head coach for him. He’s young and we’ve got to get through it. When he gets through this, he’s going to help us a lot. The guys see it in practice every day doing some of the things. It’s going to translate. I need to help him get that to translate.”

Northweather has shown some flashes of being a solid player for Oklahoma but it’s the freshman mistakes and not being sure of himself that is holding him back right now. But as Moser said, if he can figure it out, he has a chance to be a good college player.

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Oklahoma Sooners must figure out road struggles

The Oklahoma Sooners have had a really solid season in 2024. No one thought this would have been a tournament team this after they were picked to finish last in the Big 12. Not only are they primed for a tournament berth, but they’ve also been …

The Oklahoma Sooners have had a really solid season in 2024. No one thought this would have been a tournament team this after they were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

Not only are they primed for a tournament berth, but they’ve also been ranked for much of the year as well. It doesn’t look like they’ll be ranked again this year barring a great run to close the regular season.

One area where they have struggled however is on the road. The Sooners are 2-4 on the road and 13-3 at home. Their only road wins were at Cincinnati and Kansas State. Three of their final five games of the season are on the road starting with two straight, at [autotag]Oklahoma State[/autotag] on Saturday and then at [autotag]Iowa State[/autotag] the following Wednesday.

They then end the season with a trip to Texas. The issue with how they’ve played on the road is even heightened given one of their final road teams is against Houston, who is the No. 2 team in the country currently.

Still, the goal should be to get to 20 wins. It’s not going to be easy. It’s why blowing some of the games they have were so big when they happened. It’s going to make getting to that 20-win mark even harder.

That final five-game stretch all starts this Saturday in Stillwater with the Sooners needing to win 2 of 3.

More: Despite recent struggles, Sooners a NCAA tournament team

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Oklahoma runs out of gas in the second half as they fall to No. 6 Kansas 67-57

No. 25 Oklahoma falls 67-57 against No. 6 Kansas as the Jayhawks sweep the season series.

No. 25 Oklahoma entered Saturday with a chance to earn their third win against a top-25 opponent. Instead, they came up short as Bill Self and his sixth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks completed the season sweep of the Oklahoma Sooners 67-57.

Oklahoma entered the day with severe doubt that two trusted rotation members would play. [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag] twisted his ankle in the second half of the Sooners’ 79-62 loss at Baylor on Tuesday after leading the team in scoring with 17 points.

[autotag]John Hugley[/autotag] IV injured his knee against Oklahoma State last Saturday and didn’t even travel for OU’s game vs. the Bears.

Soares tested his ankle pregame but ended up not playing, and he and Hugley were sorely missed.

Oklahoma started Javian McCollum, Milos Uzan, Otega Oweh, Sam Godwin, and Jalen Moore. They raced out to a double-digit first-half lead behind hot shooting and terrific defense on Kansas forward Kevin McCullar Jr., who was returning from an injury. Jalon Moore led the way with 13 of his team-high 17 points. Milos Uzan was aggressive and added 8 points, while McCollum contributed six.

Kansas pushed back towards the end of the half to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 5 at the break. OU entered the locker room up 34-29 after an excellent all-around first half minus 3/8 free throw shooting in the first half.

The second half started, and Kansas began to find themselves.

Kansa and OU played a close game with the game tied on a number of occasions before Hunter Dickinson found McCullar for a three-pointer that gave KU its first lead since 5-4. Kansas would go on a 14-4 run and would not look back.

Oklahoma continued to fight, but their first-half shooting cooled dramatically as they shot 3 of 19 from the field in the second half. The Sooners’ inability to stop Kansas in the half-court, specifically Hunter Dickinson, doomed the them despite having a five-point halftime lead.

Javian McCollum was 3 of 6 from three and finished with 15 points.

Hunter Dickinson posted a 20-point, 16-rebound double-double to set the tone for the Jayhawks. Freshman Johnny Furphy added 15 points on 5/8 shooting with three makes from distance to help his team.

For Oklahoma, the Sooners will have the week off and not play until next Saturday when they make their final Big 12 visit to Stillwater in basketball to wrap up the Bedlam season series.

Kansas will host Texas next Saturday back home in Allen Fieldhouse.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.

How to watch, key players for No. 21 Oklahoma Sooners at No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks

Here is how you can watch Oklahoma’s upcoming game against the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Oklahoma Sooners are fresh off a blowout loss at the hands of the Baylor Bears on the road. Now, they return home against the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag].

The Jayhawks are also fresh off a blowout of their own losing earlier in the week by 29 points. This will mark the second time the Sooners have played Kansas this year and both games will follow a Jayhawks loss.

The Sooners could also be without [autotag]John Hugley IV[/autotag] and [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag] who are two of their key bench players. But if you aren’t able to make it out to the Lloyd Noble Center, let’s take a look at how you can watch the game and some key players.

Oklahoma Sooners dominated by Baylor Bears 79-62

Baylor drills Oklahoma 79-62 as Oklahoma also loses Rivaldo Soares to an ankle injury.

Oklahoma’s season has been rock solid for the most part. They entered Tuesday night well on pace for 20 wins and well-positioned for a return to the NCAA Tournament. After they went undefeated last week, the Sooners knew they would have a significant jump in competition this week, with games against Baylor and Kansas on deck.

The first of those daunting games saw them travel to Waco, Texas, on Tuesday night for the first time since Baylor opened their shiny new basketball arena. Things weren’t bad to start as the Sooners and Bears traded baskets and raced out to a 20-20 stalemate in the first half.

Javian McCollum, Sam Godwin, and Milos Uzan were the stars of the first half. According to the ESPN2 broadcast, Jalon Moore had been battling the flu before the game. To rub salt in the wound, John Hugley was announced as out because of a knee injury. Moore was taking longer than regular breaks, likely due to fatigue, so freshman Luke Northweather was first off the bench.

Rivaldo Soares continued his excellent run, leading the Sooners with 17 points.

With the score 20-20, Baylor went on a 20-7 run to close out the half, sparked by their suffocating defense and Baylor’s flurry of three-point jumpers. Jayden Nunn was the biggest culprit, with three triples during the Bears’ flurry, and added another two points to end the half.

Nunn and Baylor guard RayJ Dennis were dominant, and the Sooners had no answer as the duo combined for 26 of Baylor’s 40 first-half points.

The second half didn’t get any better. In fact, things got worse. The Sooners came out lifeless as Baylor pushed out to a 21-point lead, the largest deficit the Sooners have faced all year. Rivaldo Soares injured his ankle and had to leave the game with just five minutes remaining.

Baylor continued raining down three-pointers, making a total of 11, which would be the most the Sooners have allowed from distance all season long. Baylor finished the game shooting over 50 percent.

Oklahoma turned the ball over 12 times, which Baylor turned into 22 points. The Sooners could only turn five Bears turnovers into just six points. That was the story of the game for the Sooners.

All eyes now turn to the health of Rivaldo Soares, one of the most indispensable players on Oklahoma’s roster. His ascension has been a revelation, and he’s comfortably been the Sooners’ most important player for a month now.

OU will welcome Kansas to the Lloyd Noble Center at 3 p.m. Saturday for the final time as Big 12 foes. Both teams are banged up, but someone must win this game. Oklahoma will seek revenge for last month’s loss to the Jayhawks in Lawrence.

Baylor will head out to take on West Virginia on the road this Saturday.

Oklahoma outlasts Oklahoma State in first round of Bedlam 66-62

Oklahoma staves off an upset attempt from their Bedlam rivals and win 66-62.

Since taking the head coaching job at Oklahoma, Bedlam has been unkind to Porter Moser. He entered Saturday’s matchup just 1-4 against the Cowboys. For stretches of Saturday’s rock fight of a basketball game, it looked like Oklahoma State could give him a fifth loss.

Yet, when things settled, the Oklahoma Sooners came out on top with a 66-62 win.

Mike Boynton and his Oklahoma State Cowboys entered the day 10-13 overall, and their 2-8 record in conference play was dead last in the Big 12. However, from the opening eight minutes Oklahoma had its hands full.

When the first media timeout rolled around, the teams were tied 4-4, and both were shooting under 20 percent.

Oklahoma’s defense was rock solid in the first half, and they never allowed the Cowboys to shoot better than 25%. A big-time three from Le’Tre Darthard, who had a team-high +7 and was 3 of 4 from three, helped Oklahoma into the break with a 31-26 lead. Otega Oweh finished the first half with three fouls and OU’s eight turnovers helped keep the Cowboys in the game.

Things didn’t improve at the start of the second half, as three technicals and a flagrant foul by John Hugley IV allowed Oklahoma State to hang around. The Sooners never shot the ball well enough to pull away, and Oklahoma State was rock solid from the free-throw line, going 21 of 28 compared to Oklahoma’s 15 of 24.

After Oklahoma fell behind 56-52, the Sooners went on a 9-0 run to push out to a five-point lead with a few minutes remaining. The Sooners finished strong and closed out a game they couldn’t afford to lose.

Jalon Moore was stellar, contributing 15 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. He was the only Sooner in double figures. Rivaldo Soares and Milos Uzan both had eight. Hugley and Javian McCollum added seven points a piece

Oklahoma’s attention turns to a massive trip to Waco, Texas, on Tuesday to take on the Baylor Bears. The Sooners are now 18-6 on the season and 6-5 in Big 12 play.

Oklahoma State will have the week off and not play until next Saturday when they host No. 21 BYU.

Javian McCollum continues to trust his preparation to get him out of his slump

Javian McCollum has been struggling recently but a big game vs. BYU hopes to get him back on track.

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team returned to their winning ways with a huge win over the BYU Cougars. It was a complete team win, with the bench contributing 23 points to the victory.

The defense was stellar as they held one of the nation’s best offenses to 66 points and one of the best three-point shooting teams to eight makes on 30.8% shooting.

A big key for the Sooners was the play of their two guards [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] and [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag]. It was one of their better performances in recent memory. They combined for 36 points on 47.8% shooting from the field.

McCollum spoke about his recent struggles and how he was able to bounce back vs. the Cougars. “My teammates kept me positive even though my shot hasn’t been falling the way that I’ve wanted it to fall,” McCollum said. “My teammates are here uplifting me, keeping me in high spirits. I’m really not worried about that. I know it’s eventually going to fall. I’m always in the gym. At the end of the day, the goal is to win, get big wins, get these Quad 1 wins out of the way and get to the tournament.”

The Sooners last made the tournament in the 2020-2021 season, which was [autotag]Lon Kruger[/autotag]’s final season as head coach. They are currently sitting in a great spot to make the NCAA tournament this season. They sit at 17-6 with eight regular season games remaining. Ideally, 20 wins gets you in the tournament. Although, as we saw in that 2020-2021 season, you can get it with 16 wins. The Sooners schedule has certainly been tough enough to carry them to March Madness.

But they need to keep stacking wins, and that starts this Saturday with the final home [autotag]Bedlam[/autotag] game as [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] foes. Oklahoma will play Oklahoma State twice in the next six games. The other four games are top 15 matchups with Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, and Houston.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

‘I just thought we weren’t in sync’: Oklahoma’s conference offensive woes continue

The Sooners better figure out their offensive woes as they face one of the best offenses in the country.

It is no secret, the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball has an offense problem. The Sooners are averaging 69.8 points per game in their last five games.

That includes the 84-point game they had vs. Texas Tech. That’s also nearly eight points below their season average of 77.6. They’ve scored 73 or less in seven of their nine conference games. Porter Moser spoke with the media on Monday ahead of their game against the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag] about what they need to do to get their offense back on track.

“I just thought we weren’t in sync,” Moser said. “When you don’t make shots, it doesn’t look in sync. Trust me. When you start making shots it’s ‘Oh things are clicking.’ So, that’s a big part of it. It was good to see Tre (Le’Tre Darthard) get back into the flow. Tre got into a flow and got some shots going. I think Javian, Los (Milos Uzan) and Otega, those three, got to get them in the flow. Rivaldo has continued to give us great minutes.”

It’s not as easy as just making shots. When you watched the [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag] game, it was more about not having basketball players able to create looks for themselves or their teammates. They better figure it out as BYU has a top-15 scoring offense in the country, averaging just over 84 points per game.

More: How to watch the Oklahoma Sooners vs. BYU Cougars

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

How to watch, key players for No. 24 Oklahoma Sooners vs. UCF Knights

The Sooners head to Orlando to take on the UCF Knights in search of their third road win and here is how you can watch the game.

The Oklahoma Sooners got a huge must-win game on the road against the Kansas State Wildcats. The Sooners need to continue that momentum as they stay on the road looking for another road conference win.

This time, they take on the [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag], who are 12-8 (3-5, Big 12). UCF is coming off two straight losses to close the month of January. Most recently, they failed to hold on the second half at home against Baylor.

UCF is a team that can beat just about anyone on any given night, as just about every [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] team can do. But they’ve struggled with consistency.

One night, they can beat Kansas, but the next night, they might get blown out by Kansas State. So, the Sooners are going to have to come out and let their defense lead the way like they did in their win Tuesday against Kansas State.

So, let’s take a look at some key players and how you can watch the game.

Jalon Moore’s evolution is pivotal to remainder of Sooners season

Jalon Moore has morphed into Oklahoma’s most important and consistent player.

Last year was a disaster of a season for No. 23 Oklahoma. They were abysmal, inconsistent, flawed, and simply not a good basketball team. Porter Moser knew things had to change, and in college basketball, for better or worse, your team can change entirely over months due to the NCAA transfer portal.

As players from last year’s team departed for professional opportunities, sought fresh starts elsewhere, or committed themselves to the Crimson and Cream, Oklahoma had holes to fill.

The most pressing needs were for athleticism, shooting, and playmaking. And so, Porter Moser and his staff attacked the portal with the desperation of a team down five points with under a minute left.

They pressed the portal hard and landed many players who filled their needs.

Javian McCollum came in with plenty of buzz as a sleeper NBA draft selection should he have a big year in Norman after transferring from Siena. He’s on his way to doing just that.

Le’Tre Darthard was a valuable member of a Utah Valley team that played postseason basketball last year. John Hugley IV transferred from Pittsburgh looking to reclaim the form that landed him on an All-ACC team.

Rivaldo Soares was looking for a more prominent role than he had at Oregon State. Jalon Moore started 15 games for Georgia Tech last year, where he averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. He was a part of their rotation, but it always felt like he had more to give.

College basketball media even believed it. The pressure was off of him, too. In Norman, he’d get a fresh start, an expanded role, and thus the opportunity to flourish.

Moore has done just that, and Tuesday night’s performance against Kansas State culminated in a season’s worth of growth for Moore.

Against the Wildcats, Moore had a career-high 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting with nine rebounds. He was pivotal in the first half and equally impactful in the second, especially when Kansas State pushed to tighten things up.

He plays hard every game, even when he shoots poorly, and his motor doesn’t stop. His length allows him to guard positions 1-4 without real trouble. His performance earned him KenPom Game MVP, highlighting his efficiency and positive contributions to his team’s win.

Oklahoma is far from out of the woods, though. A massive road game against UCF is on tap for Saturday. The Knights have already knocked off Texas and Kansas at home. The Sooners need this game, and for them to win, they’ll need more of Moore.

Moore has been the constant, while Otega Oweh, Milos Uzan, and Javian McCollum have been inconsistent from game to game. The steady stream of high energy and winning plays Moore makes nightly could be the essential piece Oklahoma needs to weather the slide they’ve been in and elevate their play as we inch closer to March.

He won’t end up on any All-Big 12 teams because his numbers won’t reflect that, but there’s been no player more valuable to Oklahoma’s success this season than Jalon Moore.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.