Oklahoma Men's BB Team Faces Tough Road Game against Cincinnati

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Men's Basketball Team travels to Cincinnati to play a tough road game against the Bearcats in the Saturday Big 12 Game. Both teams are 2-2 in conference play. Oklahoma is 14-3 while Cincinnati is 13-4 overall. The two teams NET rankings are 26 for Oklahoma and 28 for Cincinnati. Tip off for the game is Noon CST. the game will be on ESPN+.

Everything about this matchup looks to be very even. The differences are slight. Oklahoma shoots about 10% better from the free throw line and shoots a few more charity shots than Cincy. Oklahoma shoots a couple percent better from inside the arc. OU shoots a few more three's. Cincy puts up a few more total shots. Both teams average 71 points on offense with Cincy allowing 3 less points. Cincy grabs a few more rebounds. It is all very even. Both teams handle the ball very similar. Both teams opponents in the Big 12 is 8-8 also.

This game is going to depend on a player or two having a big time game for their team to spur their team to victory. That and maybe one team handling the ball less effectively could give the other team an advantage. Cincy's starters score about 10 points more than the Sooners and their bench scores a few less. Cincy uses 9 players, OU uses 8/9 depending on Northweather's playing time. Cincy is a bit bigger inside with 6'8" and 6'11" starters and 7'0" and 6'11" coming off the bench. The Sooners are a more guard oriented team for scoring while Cincy gets their frontcourt a little more involved.

BUT, the biggest factor is where this game is going to be played. But Cincy does come to Norman later in the season, so even that factor is 'even' by the end of the season. Oklahoma has to play better in this game to be in the game at all. Then they have to play very well the last four or five minutes to secure the win on the road. To do that, I think I would watch fouls inside and hope that OU stays out of foul trouble with Godwin and Hugley IV especially. I think Moore and Soares will need to be watched also. If Northweather plays in the game, he needs to hit a couple three's and play tough inside the lane against Cincy's bigs.

The only common game the two teams have is against TCU. Oklahoma lost to TCU on the road, Cincy defeated TCU at home. That is the expected in the Big 12, I think, this year.

OU has a chance to steal a game on the road on Saturday, but the game will not be given to them, the Sooners have to outplay the Bearcats for 40 minutes. Good luck to the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Tip is at 12:01 p.m. CT. The game will air 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 ESPN+ with Eric Rothman (PxP) and Tim Welsh (analyst) on the call.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooners game at Cincinnati on Saturday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/19 ... cincinnati

Oklahoma and Cincinnati has played twice. Once in 2010 and once in 2011. Both games were at neutral sites. Cincinnati would both of the games.

Good luck to the Sooners on the road.

Boomer Sooner!

[RussC]

Very exciting game going on!

OU up by 3 with 14 seconds to go.

Cinncy ball. Timeout

[SwampSooner]

Sooners win at Cincinnati 69 -65

[gcruse7]

Road win in conference! It seems like those are going to be especially valuable this year.

[OUBeliever56A]

The Sooners prevailed and won a big road game at Cincinnati today with their 69-65. The Sooners got very good efforts from almost every player today for their first Big 12 victory on the road this season. I thought that Moore, Hugley IV, Soares and Darthard all played strong games in complementary roles today. McCollum and Oweh lead the Sooners with 16 and 14 points each. (Oweh needs to make that late free throw though.)

Cincinnati was bigger and played very physical and the Sooners simply played well enough to win the game today.

The Longhorns come to town on Tuesday in a 6 PM game. It is a "wear white" game. I hope it will be sold out! Texas is coming to town with a 2-3 record after they defeated Baylor today in Austin. OU is now 3-2 in conference games and 15-3.

Big time win for OU today!

Boomer Sooner!

[EMan]

Road wins are like gold in this conference! Really good win today. OU took the lead early in the second half and never gave it up, although there were definitely a few touch and go moments down the stretch. But the Sooners kept their poise and got the W. Hats off to them on a solid performance.

[gcruse7]

Road wins are like gold in this conference!

Case in point: Kansas just lost on the road at WVU!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here are a few more thoughts about the Oklahoma Men's Basketball Team win over Cincinnati on the road in Ohio. The Sooners started a bit slow but they battled back to take th elead for the first time just inside the 10 minute mark on a Jalon Moore three to give OU a 12-11 lead. The remainder of the first half was played closely between the two teams as they played physical defense and a great deal of basketball inside the lane as the two teams were tied at the half. A key stat from the first half was the free throw shooting. Oklahoma was 9 for 9 from the line while Cincinnati was only 6 for 10. Those 3 extra made free throws by Oklahoma offset one extra 3-pointer made by Cincinnati in the first half to create the tied score at halftime.

In the second half the Sooners took command early and led by as many as 9 just inside the half way point of the 2nd half. But Cincinnati made a run at the Sooners to cut the lead for Oklahoma to 4 points the next 4 minute of the game.Two consecutive bucket by Hugley IV (a running shot down the right side of the lane) and Oweh (dunk on a rebound) built the Sooner lead back to 7 points with 2 minutes left in the game.

Things did get a little scary as the Sooner lead was whittled down to 2 points twice, but good free throw shooting by Soares and Darthard (2 out of 2 for each) kept the Sooners lead intact as the Sooners won by 4 points 69-65.

McCollum led the Sooners with 16 tough points from the outside going to the bucket and at the free throw line. Oweh added 14 points including 5 of 6 from the line. Hugley IV added 11 points inside against the big front court of the Bearcats as he played some extra minutes today in relief of Godwin. Moore added 9 points and 10 rebounds for an 'almost' double-double by the high flying Sooners. Soares added 8 and Darthard added 7 to account for all but 4 of the points for the Sooners. The Sooners made two more buckets from the field than did the Bearcats, but OU only outscored Cincy by two points due to Cincy 2-more three's in the game. But that good free throw shooting for OU (16 for 18) gave the Sooners the 4 point win as Cincy was 14 for 22 from the line. Oklahoma did out-rebound Cincy 42 to 36. Oklahoma did have some early turnovers but they curbed that and finished with only 10 for the game.

Oklahoma played really well against a big physical team on Saturday for about 33 or 34 minutes. But they stayed in the game in those other minutes and did not lose their composure in front of 12,000 Bearcats fans. This was a big win and it could be a turning point of sorts for the Sooners.

The Sooners are now in a tie for 3rd place at 3-2 in the Big 12 with four other teams. The 1st place teams are at 4-1 and are Texas Tech and Kansas State. Who would have guessed that when the conference play started?

In other actions today, news was made by West Virginia as they beat Kansas 91-85 in Morgantown, WV. Texas held home court and defeated Baylor 75-73 on a last second shot. Iowa State picked up a win on the road at TCU 73-72. Texas Tech held home court as they defeated BYU 85-78 after BYU built up a 16 point half-time lead over Tech.

OU returns to Norman on Tuesday to host Texas who probably played their best game of conference play and maybe their season today in their win over Baylor. It is a 'wear white' game and I hope that LNC is sold out for the game. Show up and be loud, very loud.

Congrats to the Sooners on their win on the road today.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooner road win over Cincinnati.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/20 ... cincinnati

Boomer Sooner!

[soonerTroll2]

So far so good for Moser and his guys. Damn, just looked at the NCAAM's Big12 scoreboard and just realized the pukes could go winless in conference play.