Sooners Men's BB Team Hosts Providence: Sooners better be ready!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Men's Basketball team will host the Providence Friars on Tuesday night at 6 PM at Lloyd Noble Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing and be broadcast by ESPNU with Mark Neely (PxP) and Tim Welsh (analyst) on the call.

The Friars are in the AP Poll as they are among the teams receiving votes and at the 37th position in the poll. They are not receiving any votes from the coaches. The currently hold a NET Ranking of #61. Oklahoma's NET Ranking is #19. OU move dup in both polls this week as they are ranked #19 in the AP Poll and #22 in the Coaches Poll.

Here is the staff writers article on the Big East-Big 12 Battle tonight.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/12/4 ... providence

I will have more on Providence in the morning and more about the matchups.

Good luck to the Sooners on Tuesday night.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

I hope that the Sooners are equally focused on their game tonight against the Providence Friars as they have been all season so far. Each game this season they have just played at high level with many pieces fitting together very well. Seven pieces to be precise.

I think it starts on defense for the Sooners. They pressure the ball well and they do not let too many players drive by them without being challenged by other players helping or by pressure when they shoot. The Sooners rebound well enough to be able to grab the ball and start the other way on breaks of the defensive glass also. The defense has just been very solid all season so far. They jump in the passing lanes well also as they are averaging over 7 steals a game and almost 5 blocks a game. The intensity and success on defense is nice to watch as a fan. What is very impressive is that outside of Godwin and Hugley IV, each of the other 5 Sooners can almost match up against any outside player and handle them. the versatility of Soares and Moore guarding outside is somewhat unique. Oweh is equally effective outside and inside as well. It is pretty hard for an offense to find a mismatch against the Sooners. So far, no player for the other teams has been too quick or to big to handle by the Sooners.

On offense they operate with Uzan and McCollum most of the time handling the ball to start the offense. Both are doing very well. Together they have 56 assists and only 25 turnovers. They also score 21 points a game with McCollum scoring 13.6 and Uzan 7.4. Inside they have Godwin, Moore, Hugley IV and Soares that roam the paint and outside when needed. The umping ability by Moore and Soares is a big advantage for the Sooners to me. They can play big or small. Darthard, and Oweh are the other two pieces on offense. Darthard is shooting well of late and plays very smartly to me. I think he will score more going forward. Oweh is the piece that is hard for teams to match up with. He has an all-around game that is very 'in control' right now. The offense has the outside, the inside, the mid-range and the hustle on offense. They also run very well with almost anyone handling the ball and at the rim on the break.

Yes, I like the Sooners right now. I think Coach Moser and the team has done their jobs well. And, I hope they are ready for tonight.

Providence is not a great team, but they are very good. As 'ouflyguy' said, they are 7-1 this season and they did defeat teams like Wisconsin and at Georgia from Power-5 conferences and played at K-State to a 70-73 defeat in overtime. Those three teams are 17-7 so far this season. Providence is winning by an average of 17+ points a game with that one 3 point loss to K-State. Providence is only listed in the AP Poll and has a RV-37 slot in the poll. They do have a NET Ranking of #61. which is behind OU with their #19 NET Ranking. But I do not think this means tonight will be easy at all. In fact, i think the game will be a highly contested game.

Providence is lead by three players across the court. Hopkins (#23- 6'7" 220) leads the team with 17.3 Pts/G and 8.6 Reb/G. He is a good player who can play inside and a little outside. I think it will be interesting to see if Moore, Oweh and Soares can contro Hopkins tonight. At guard is Carter (#22- 6'3" 195) who is averaging 15.0 Pts/G and also 8.6 Reb/G. He must go to the boards hard as a 6'3" player. Both Hopkins and Carter play 32+ minutes a game. those two are complemented by Oduro (#13- 6'9" 240) as forward who averages 14.0 Pts/G and 6.1 Reb/G in 26 minutes a game. Godwin and Hugley IV will split time playing against Oduro. At 6'7", Gaines is the fourth starter in each game this year (#0- 6'7" 190) as he scores 8.3 Pts/G and 4.4 Reb/G.. He plays almost 31 minutes a game and is an outside swing player who can sink a 'three'. Oweh, Soares and maybe Darthard will play against Gaines tonight. It looks like the 5th starter will be Pierre, (#1- 6'2" 180) who started the first four games and their last game. He averages 10.6 Pts/G and 1.4 Reb/G and is the fifth player in minutes per game. Two guards also play 22 minutes a game in Dual (#3-6'5" 190) and Floyd (#14- 210). Dual adds 5.4 Pts/G and 1.3 Reb/G and Floyd averages 6'4" Pts/G and 2.9 Reb/G. A big man, Castro (#30- 6'11" 220) adds 11 minutes and of play up front and 4.3 Pts/G and 3.8 Reb/G.

Providence will come into Lloyd Noble Center with an attitude that they can win tonight. the will play tough tonight. Oduro can get into foul trouble and that might be a key tonight. The inside play should be pretty strong tonight. Maybe OU's depth can wear down the three Friars that play 30+ minutes a game also. At least, I hope that is a factor. No Sooner plays 30 minutes a game but Oweh and McCollum is close.

I am looking forward to tonight's game. It is a great first contest this week for the Sooners in a week that will end against Arkansas on Saturday in Tulsa. I just hope the Sooners forget about Tulsa for about 24 hours and focuses on Providence for tonight. I believe the Sooners will prevail in a game that is in the high 70s - mid 80's tonight.

Boomer Sooner!

[SwampSooner]

I watched most of the game against So Cal. These guys are very athletic and, dare I say it, disciplined. There were not many wild shots and it felt like there was always someone there to rebound the missed shot. Defense was hard-nosed and USC did not get very many uncontested shots.

So far this season, Oklahoma is 5-0 at home against cupcakes and 2-0 against good teams on a neutral court. Tonight is their first true opponent at home. They follow this game with a neutral court game in Tulsa against Arkansas. Hopefully, not because of my crimson colored glasses, the Sooners should be 9-0 after this week.

In the offing, The Sooners play North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Dec 23.

[OU Guy]

Should be a great game tonight. Hope all the goodwill they built with students helps the students show up tonight

[OUBeliever56A]

In the offing, The Sooners play North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Dec 23.

The game against North Carolina is in Charlotte, NC. Technically it is a neutral court, but it is still a home game for NC.

[OU Guy]

We have a top 40 visitor

[OU Guy]

Wow, and some still trickling in

[OU Guy]

OU on a 25-4 run late second half lead 66-46. This is a really good Princeton team too

[SoonerTX]

I wonder if the players would have preferred the crowd to be in McCasland.

[OU_Tom]

[OU Guy]

Great win! Best start in 8 years (15/16 season)!!

[OU Guy]

Reading several local beat writers social media posts they like this team. Some said Princeton will be in March Madness and to beat them by 21 and not play our best game says a lot against a very good team. I feel good for Moser after last year many were calling for his head or saying he was not the right coach but admin had patience to let him churn the roster to his players and its paying off. We play Arky in Tulsa this weekend and thats another decent test although Arky is not looking as good this year so far as in past years. The key is staying hungry and fight through bad games which we’ll have like all teams do. Our depth is deep this year too. Top 8 could all be starters.

[SwampSooner]

Sooners win! 72-51. OU jumps out to a 12-0 by the 1st TV time out. Two minutes later, the score is 12-11. Carter hit 3 3s and 2 FTs. Sooners score the next 5 and fluctuate between a 3 and 9 pt lead for the rest of the half. OU leads 35-31 at the break.

Frairs come out of half time more aggressive but can't hit a shot while OU builds the lead to 39-31. Providence gets hot and takes their 1st lead of the night at 41-40. OU regains their composure and goes on a 25-4 run. Sooner defense totally shuts down their offense, while the Sooners run a good offensive scheme finding the open man or driving the lane at the right time to put this game away.

I wonder about the announcers. It was as if they knew much more about Providence than Oklahoma and seemed stunned when OU pulled away in the 2nd half.

Now it is on to Tulsa to face Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

[OU Guy]

If anyone missed game here’s one player making play after play

[EMan]

I know I sound like a broken record, but the difference in athleticism on this team compared to the 2 previous Moser teams is exponential. There's no comparison. Tanner Groves, Jacob Groves, Jalen Hill, Grant Sherfield, Bijan Cortes, joe Bamisile, C.J. Noland... vs. Javian McCollum, Jalon Moore, John Hugley, Le'Tre Darthard, Rivaldo Soares... it's a total mismatch. I loved the heart Tanner played with and I completely respect his game. He gave it his all. But Hugley is a definite upgrade in athleticism and inside scoring. Sherfield had his moments, but McCollum is a better shooter from the outside, and the biggest plus, he can create his own shot. McCollum had his defenders on roller skates tonight. They had no idea which way he was going. Hill would play on this team if he had stayed, but his minutes would have been cut down for sure. Let's just say this team is a definite step up from what we've seen the last two years, and probably longer. They may not be ready to contend for the Big 12 championship with Kansas and Houston, but they won't be an easy win on anyone's schedule either. And they play at a much faster (and enjoyable) pace as well. If you haven't watched this team play yet, you need to get on board. They're fun to watch, and they play extremely hard.

And I forgot to mention the very noticeable improvement in Oweh and especially Godwin. Oweh was starting to show signs of what he could be at the end of last year, but I never would've guessed Godwin would improve as much as he has. He's been a different player so far this season. And tonight Uzan played like he did much of last year. Maybe because it's been a while, but I'm finally excited about what I see on the court. Hopefully this improvement continues.