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[OUHoops]

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Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel has a simple reason why his team has lost back-to-back games in lackluster fashion: It's not very good.

The 25th-ranked Sooners try to get back on track Thursday night against Houston in the second day of the Great Alaska Shootout.

Oklahoma (2-2) knew it would be tough to duplicate the success it had last season when national player of the year Blake Griffin led the team to a 30-6 record and into the NCAA tournament regional finals, but it probably didn't envision struggling this much.

After losing to Virginia Commonwealth 82-69 on Saturday, the Sooners fell to San Diego 76-64 on Wednesday night in the first round of this event.

Oklahoma, which hasn't opened a season with losses in three of its first five games since 1995-96, wasn't really in either defeat, trailing the Rams by as many as 17 and falling behind the Toreros by as much as 23.

"We're not a very good team right now," Capel said.

A sluggish offense is a big reason for the two losses.

The Sooners made 32.8 percent of their shots Wednesday after connecting on 5 of 26 shots (19.2 percent) from 3-point range against VCU.

Sophomore guard Willie Warren, who averages a team-best 19.3 points, is shooting 29.4 percent in the last two games - 22.2 (4 of 18) from beyond the arc. He finished with 30 points Wednesday, mostly after the outcome was decided.

Oklahoma's defense hasn't been much better, failing to come up with key stops.

"It's our fourth game, and we've yet to defend at the level we need to defend at," Capel said.

If the defense struggles again, the Sooners will likely have their hands full trying to stop a high-powered Houston offense led by Aubrey Coleman.

The 6-foot-4 Coleman finished with 32 points in Saturday's 112-99 loss to Nevada after scoring 33 in a season-opening 92-60 win over Nicholls State on Nov. 17.

Despite Coleman's big game Saturday, Houston (1-1) was sloppy, turning the ball over 23 times while getting outrebounded 57-27.

"We didn't match their intensity from the beginning," coach Tom Penders said. "It's a tough loss but our kids learned a lot. We have got to bounce back."

This will be the Cougars' first game of the tournament, and they'll play San Diego on Friday.

In the only other meeting between these teams, Oklahoma won 55-51 on Dec. 16, 1960.

 

[OUHoops]

Some more info on Houston:

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The 25th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and Houston Cougars have made their way to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout.

Houston is a member of Conference USA, and it is making its first appearance in this event, and the team is 109-60 all-time in regular season tournaments. The Cougars crushed Nicholls State to open the season, but last Saturday's clash with Nevada ended in a 112-99 setback.

The Sooners actually began play in this event yesterday against San Diego, and the result of that contest was a 76-64 loss. Oklahoma suffered an 82-69 setback to VCU in the previous outing, and the two losses figure to drop the club from the national poll upon the next release. Clearly, Jeff Capel's team has underachieved and needs to improve in a hurry to have any chance of competing with the likes of Texas and Kansas in the Big 12 Conference this year.

Oklahoma won its only previous meeting with Houston by a 55-51 final way back in 1960.

Aubrey Coleman has been sensational for Houston so far this season, as the reigning Conference USA Player of the Week poured in 33 points against Nicholls State and 32 points against Nevada. In the setback to the Wolf Pack, Coleman shot the ball 30 times from the floor, and he registered four steals and three assists to go along with seven rebounds. Adam Brown tallied 25 points in defeat for Houston, as he connected on 5-of-8 three-point attempts. Desmond Wade scored 12 points and dished out five assists, while Sean Coleman contributed 11 points. The Cougars only committed five turnovers in the contest and shot 16-of-21 from the foul line. Unfortunately, a 57-27 rebounding disadvantage crippled the squad, as did the fact that it allowed Nevada to connect on 60.9 percent of its field goal attempts.

There are a couple of obvious reasons that Oklahoma fell short against San Diego last night. First, the Sooners connected on only 32.8 percent of their field goal attempts, including a 7-of-25 effort from three-point range. Also, the club was outrebounded by a 42-31 margin, failing to show the toughness that typically defines Oklahoma basketball. Willie Warren scored 30 points in the tilt, accounting for half of the Sooners' total, but he shot a lackluster 7-of-20 from the field. No other player had more than eight points in the setback for Oklahoma, which was averaging 78.7 ppg prior to the San Diego loss. Warren was leading the team with 15.7 ppg, and he obviously helped his average immensely.