Encouraging Win!

[TINY]

We took Iowa states best shot today and came out looking pretty strong imo.

Reaves was spectacular! Harkless was great as ever and you could tell he had more energy at the end with reaves being back. Brady rounding back into form with a really good all around game. Mo with another big game on both ends. Jalen with big plays down the stretch again. I could go on. Love this team!

 

[CoachTalk]

2nd place in the Big 12 right now.

Huge Texas game upcoming!

 

[BoulderSooner]

Harkless and Gibson. Were both very good.

 

[OUSKINS]

There are wins and there are non-losses. Today was the latter. And it’s totally fine. They earned the right for a ho-hum win with their tremendous effort over the past month. I thought they were a little sluggish today and not quite as committed to defending as they have been. Some sloppy turnovers too. But every time ISU made it uncomfortable, we had an answer. Just don’t lose to a bad team like that, especially at home. They didn’t. Not a memorable game or one for the archives, but over the course of the season good teams find ways to win when they bring less than their A game. My grades for the team today would be a whole lotta C+’s, but it’s a good sign when your C+ game yields a W.

 

[CoachTalk]

There are wins and there are non-losses. Today was the latter. And it’s totally fine. They earned the right for a ho-hum win with their tremendous effort over the past month. I thought they were a little sluggish today and not quite as committed to defending as they have been. Some sloppy turnovers too. But every time ISU made it uncomfortable, we had an answer. Just don’t lose to a bad team like that, especially at home. They didn’t. Not a memorable game or one for the archives, but over the course of the season good teams find ways to win when they bring less than their A game. My grades for the team today would be a whole lotta C+’s, but it’s a good sign when your C+ game yields a W.

Don’t like that train of thought.

We won ugly. That’s a win.

 

[OUSKINS]

Don’t like that train of thought.

We won ugly. That’s a win.

Well, I’m a fan of context. I do the same thing with losses. If it’s just black and white then you’d say the team failed at Lubbock on Monday because a loss is a loss. For me, I thought that effort and their ability to play it so close was an encouraging sign.

 

[skyvue]

The national press is much more impressed by our win today than some posters here. I've yet to hear one announcer or commentator characterize today's win as anything but a positive. No one's described it as us struggling or playing a poor game. The most/worst I've heard is, ISU put up a good fight but OU pulled away down the stretch and is one of the hottest teams in the country.

 

[CoachTalk]

Well, I’m a fan of context. I do the same thing with losses. If it’s just black and white then you’d say the team failed at Lubbock on Monday because a loss is a loss. For me, I thought that effort and their ability to play it so close was an encouraging sign.

Different game. Our best player wasn’t there.

They fought like heck.

 

[Stikboy]

There are wins and there are non-losses. Today was the latter. And it’s totally fine. They earned the right for a ho-hum win with their tremendous effort over the past month. I thought they were a little sluggish today and not quite as committed to defending as they have been. Some sloppy turnovers too. But every time ISU made it uncomfortable, we had an answer. Just don’t lose to a bad team like that, especially at home. They didn’t. Not a memorable game or one for the archives, but over the course of the season good teams find ways to win when they bring less than their A game. My grades for the team today would be a whole lotta C+’s, but it’s a good sign when your C+ game yields a W.

I completely understand what you’re saying. Good post. I think everyone’s happy with the win, knows it wasn’t pretty, and realizes they will need to play much better because the teams will be much better..

 

[skyvue]

I completely understand what you’re saying. Good post. I think everyone’s happy with the win, knows it wasn’t pretty, and realizes they will need to play much better because the teams will be much better..

We'll have to defend the three better, but we probably won't see another team shoot that well from behind the line the rest of the season, defense or no.

We defended them very well inside the arc. We shot 55%. We had four guys in double figures (and Manek nearly got there). We did have too many turnovers (though just four over our average), but I think the guys played better than we're giving them credit for (which is not to say they couldn't have played better). Without shooting way over their heads from three, ISU is never even in the game.

 

[opsooner]

Wasn’t our best game but those are going to happen. Sign of a good team is to still win when not playing your best. I thought Reaves and Harkless were terrific down the stretch and played winning basketball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stikboy]

Anyone notice when Harkless started closing out their 3 pt shooters with abandon near the end of the second half how they started missing some? Weird how that works.....

 

[oudna]

Any conference win is a good win

 

[Northbase]

Kelvin always said "it's a game of match-ups", and I thought ISU matched up with us pretty good with similar body types and energy. At times ISU ran their offense like a top tier team. Our defense was stout and the guys busted their rumps to stay on guys and to switch off. That intensity and determination was the difference in the game, IMO. Excellent win against a greatly improving ISU team.:woot:woot

 

[vbdad]

The defense read the press clippings before the game. We did a tremendous job of running into their screens in the first half. The defense was completely different in the second half although they were already on a roll and still hit a high percentage.
Early in the second half we decided to throw them the ball and had 7 turnovers very quickly. Fortunately this went back to normal.

My highlight was Brady passing out of the double team down low. He had been a black hole in their without much success. He was great yesterday in the low block.

Lowlight was Davion not playing like he has the last 6 weeks. I guess he is allowed an off day.

I'll take the win! I'm glad they played us tough here so hopefully we won't overlook them in Ames. We have had some serious no shows in Ames over the years.

 

[Sooner04]

There are wins and there are non-losses. Today was the latter. And it’s totally fine. They earned the right for a ho-hum win with their tremendous effort over the past month. I thought they were a little sluggish today and not quite as committed to defending as they have been. Some sloppy turnovers too. But every time ISU made it uncomfortable, we had an answer. Just don’t lose to a bad team like that, especially at home. They didn’t. Not a memorable game or one for the archives, but over the course of the season good teams find ways to win when they bring less than their A game. My grades for the team today would be a whole lotta C+’s, but it’s a good sign when your C+ game yields a W.

This is well put. There were two possible outcomes yesterday: a shrug your shoulders win or a disastrous loss. You can't provide maximum effort every time out (unless, it appears, you are Baylor or Gonzaga), but you can wipe out a month's worth of great work with a turd of a performance. Not yesterday!

There are still chances for that dreaded horrible loss (Ames and Manhattan loom), but we got the W yesterday. Onward!

The downside, and it was mentioned elsewhere, was Harmon. Atrocious body language. Pouting on the backrow of the bench while his teammates were engaged with the big shots being made. My antennas are always up for the pouters. I still have scar tissue from the postgame debacle in Stillwater with the Humphrey family in 1999. Hopefully De'Vion snaps out of that. He's a REALLY good player.

 

[Stikboy]

OU’s perimeter defense needs to take more of a football mentality. In football, if you sit back and let a QB get comfortable, he can get in a rhythm and then even when you decide to bring the heat he will still make plays. Same in bball. OU came out complacent on D, then those 20% shooters got in a rhythm and couldn’t miss even when guarded. OU needs to work on getting in their hip pocket from the jump and make them uncomfortable early. Not really any excuse with all the depth this year.

 

[WichitaSooner]

OU’s perimeter defense needs to take more of a football mentality. In football, if you sit back and let a QB get comfortable, he can get in a rhythm and then even when you decide to bring the heat he will still make plays. Same in bball. OU came out complacent on D, then those 20% shooters got in a rhythm and couldn’t miss even when guarded. OU needs to work on getting in their hip pocket from the jump and make them uncomfortable early. Not really any excuse with all the depth this year.

Valid points but it was one game and very much an aberration. Our perimeter defense has been great since we made the lineup changes that Covid forced heading into the KU game. Before yesterday, teams had shot 29 percent from three in that stretch. Our defense was also the sole reason we had a chance to win at Tech despite the ugliest offensive night imaginable.

 

[Stikboy]

Valid points but it was one game and very much an aberration. Our perimeter defense has been great since we made the lineup changes that Covid forced heading into the KU game. Before yesterday, teams had shot 29 percent from three in that stretch. Our defense was also the sole reason we had a chance to win at Tech despite the ugliest offensive night imaginable.

I agree with everything you said. Which makes all the discombobulation and apathy towards closing out in the first part of yesterday’s game all the more head scratching.

 

[scrybe]

This is a really tough crowd.