Tag: Rivaldo Soares

Sooners forward Jalon Moore announces return for 2024-2025 season

Oklahoma Sooners basketball got a huge boost with Jalon Moore announcing his return for the 2024-2025 season.

It’s been another tumultuous offseason for Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball program. They’ve had to be active once again in the transfer portal and have made several significant additions to the roster. One of the lingering decisions was that of [autotag]Jalon Moore[/autotag], who announced on Wednesday evening that he’s returning to the Oklahoma Sooners for the 2024-2025 season.

Moore, who had explored going on to the NBA, was one of the bright spots for the Sooners last season. He emerged as a consistent scoring threat with his athleticism and ability to finish around the bucket. There were stretches of the season where he was the Sooners best player.

He finished third on the team in scoring at 11.2 points per game and led the Sooners in rebounding at 6.7 boards per game. He had 17 games in double figures, shooting an efficient 51.7% from the field and 41% from three. Moore was also third on the team in minutes at 25.6 per game.

Moore will likely have an expanded role as one of the few key rotation players returning this year.

The Sooners lost [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag], [autotag]Otega Oweh[/autotag], and [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] to the transfer portal and [autotag]Le’Tre Darthard[/autotag] and [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag] to graduation. Despite their additions, that’s a lot of turnover. Moore gives the Oklahoma Sooners minutes at both small and power forward spots and should see his minutes approach 30 a game in 2024-2025.

 

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Oklahoma Sooners forced to pivot with Brandon Garrison committing to Kentucky

Oklahoam transfer target Brandon Garrison picks Kentucky over Oklahoma and others.

Oklahoma’s search for a big-time contributor in its frontcourt continues. The Sooners found out Tuesday that talented Oklahoma native and former Oklahoma State forward Brandon Garrison would take his talents to the Blue Grass State and the Kentucky Wildcats, one of college basketball’s biggest bluebloods.

Kentucky is in the process of retooling after losing Hall of Fame coach, John Calipari. Calipari took his operation to Arkansas to take over the Razorbacks after Eric Musselman left for the USC Trojans.

Garrison would have filled a massive need and given Oklahoma a caliber of big man that the program hasn’t seen in years. He was a former four-star recruit out of high school and a former McDonald’s All-American.

This past season in Stillwater, he averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game for the Cowboys.

With Garrison no longer an option, Oklahoma is back on the hunt to find another impact player in the front court. With the Sooners losing John Hugley to Xavier and Rivaldo Soares to graduation, the Sooners cannot just roll with Sam Godwin as its primary interior presence. Oklahoma still has two scholarships to play with as they continue to build the roster for next year.

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Sooners guard Javian McCollum to enter the transfer portal

After leading the Oklahoma Sooners in scoring, Javian McCollum set to enter the tranfer portal. Another big portal loss for the Sooners.

The exodus continues for the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball program. After just missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the third season in a row, [autotag]Porter Moser[/autotag] and the Sooners have another rebuild ahead of them.

Oklahoma had already lost [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag] and [autotag]Le’Tre Darthard[/autotag] to eligibility and have now lost [autotag]Otega Oweh[/autotag], [autotag]John Hugley[/autotag], and [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag] to the portal. Well add Javian McCollum to the list of portal entries from Oklahoma as Joe Tipton of On3 reports McCollum will depart OU after just one season.

McCollum was a big addition for the Sooners, coming over after a nice career with Sienna. McCollum led Oklahoma in scoring at 13.3 points per game and also averaged 3.4 assists per game, sharing point guard duties with Uzan.

Though his time in Norman was short-lived, McCollum made an impact. He’ll be most remembered for the shot he hit against Oklahoma State at the buzzer to help the Sooners beat the Cowboys in overtime and secure the Bedlam sweep.

With McCollum gone, the Sooners have lost nearly 50 points per game in departures this offseason.

A third straight year of roster turnover will put a bigger spotlight on Moser and his staff as they prepare for their first season in the SEC.

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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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Sooners forward John Hugley to enter transfer portal after one season in Norman

Former Pitt transfer John Hugley is back in the portal after just one year in Norman. Hugley was a big member of OU’s bench this season.

Oklahoma is looking down the barrel at another offseason when they must fill multiple holes via the transfer portal.

[autotag]Otega Oweh[/autotag], a former four-star recruit, entered the transfer portal earlier this week after a sophomore season in Norman that saw him second in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game.

Another member of Oklahoma’s 2023-2024 team is entering the transfer portal, center John Hugley. Hugley averaged 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds on 54% shooting in 17.6 minutes per game. Hugley and Sam Godwin split duties as the top big men on Oklahoma’s roster this season.

Hugley was a staple of Oklahoma’s bench unit throughout the season and had some bright spots, especially during Big 12 play. However, foul trouble and a meniscus injury were direct reasons Hugley didn’t play more. He finished with three or more fouls in six of 11 contests.

Hugley transferred from Pittsburgh last spring and will now search for a new home.

For Oklahoma, this departure felt expected but still hurts. The Sooners should be a very active team in the transfer portal, with significant minutes needed to play on the wing vacated by Le’Tre Darthard (graduation), Otega Oweh (transfer), and Rivaldo Soares (graduation).

Now, with Hugley into the portal, the Sooners will be looking for another big man capable of usurping Godwin as a starter or providing at least 20 minutes off the bench.

Porter Moser speaks on turning down NIT invitation

Porter Moser talks about why the Oklahoma Sooners decided to not play in the NIT tournament.

On Sunday, the Oklahoma Sooners found out they would not be getting into the [autotag]NCAA Tournament[/autotag]. Shortly after that, it was announced they would not be playing in the [autotag]NIT[/autotag] either.

Porter Moser held a press conference on Tuesday where he talked about the devastation his team felt after being snubbed from the tournament. He also said they were given 10-15 minutes to decide if they wanted to participate in the NIT.

“It never was a thought,” Moser said. “It’s absolutely not to disparage the NIT. I think a storied tournament. That’s not to say some coaches wanted to start on the portal. That’s not where we were. It wasn’t even about those two things. I will coach until the last bounce that I can possibly coach and I told my guys that. I said I would coach; I would develop, I would compete for this school until the last bounce. So nobody can confer what it is. It was an incredible raw emotion that these kids had to make a decision in 15 minutes after heart-breaking news where some of the guys will never have a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament again.”

That was particularly the case for [autotag]Rivaldo Soares[/autotag]. It was well documented how he had never made an NCAA Tournament and was using that as motivation. He was arguably playing like the Sooners’ best player at the end of the year but continued to battle an ankle injury.

Moser said he ultimately didn’t feel they’d have enough guys to field a team. Now the Sooners are back to where they were a year ago, trying to figure out how to build a team to make the NCAA Tournament while also going to a new conference.

How they respond to this will determine how good of a year they will have next season.

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Porter Moser speaks on the ‘devastation’ his team is feeling after NCAA Tournament snub

Porter Moser opens up about the Oklahoma Sooners feeling snubbed from the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time since taking over as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, [autotag]Porter Moser[/autotag] held a postseason press conference. This was in light of the Sooners missing the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

The Sooners and Moser felt they had a pretty compelling case to be in the NCAA Tournament, seeing they were 18-6 when fully healthy. But the committee thought otherwise, with Oklahoma as the first team out of the tournament.

More: Social media reacts to the Sooners NCAA Tournament snub

Moser spoke about what the last 48 hours have been like for his team.

“This is me speaking from the heart about our guys,” Moser said. “About the devastation and the hurt they are going through. Roughly a year ago today I was reminiscing with Los (Milos Uzan), Sam (Godwin) and Otega (Oweh) yesterday. A year ago today, when guys went into the portal, who were left were Yaya Keita, Luke Northweather, Sam Godwin, Otega Oweh, and Milos Uzan.  That was our roster after the portal. My incredible staff sat around and said we are going to build an NCAA Tournament team the right way with guys that represent Oklahoma.”

Moser went on to say they recruited a group of men that he would go to battle with at any time. He even admitted that every single day since Dec. 1, 2023, his young players would look at a bracket and Oklahoma would be in the field. The first time they looked up and were not included was Selection Sunday. Moser said he will not talk bad about other teams that got in and steal their joy but he will defend his team.

“I will talk about the complete hurt and how dumbfounded I am that Oklahoma was not included,” Moser said. “I have not been told a reason.”

There is no question Oklahoma surprised a ton of people by making a run at the tournament based on preseason projections. I think that is probably what hurts the most for this team, they felt they overachieved and made a run they felt was good enough.

But ultimately, they didn’t make it, which caused Moser to call the system “flawed” because of no consistency of why a team made it or didn’t make it.

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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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