Rewatching the game and ...

[coolm]

The whole story of this game was our outside shots that normally fall werent falling. When I watched it live I was in the middle of family dinner too so it was hard to focus. So I found it on the ESPN site and watched it again. This was by no means a game of just poor defense by OU as some want to say.

Arkansas has a good team and we were with them step-for-step in the first half. We just missed shot after shot from that spot on the wing. Thats a shot our kids routinely hit. And no it wasn't Ark's superior defense - these were open shots.

To Arkansas' credit they were hitting contested shots and we were missing open shots. Macon and Barford were just on fire offensively - it wasn't necessarily bad defense by OU. Now the 2nd half had more breakdowns defensively (late), but that first half was excellent for OU as was the first part of the second half. We just missed a ton of wide-open shots.

Oh ... and this was a 2 pt game with under a minute left.

 

[22dupree]

The whole story of this game was our outside shots that normally fall werent falling. When I watched it live I was in the middle of family dinner too so it was hard to focus. So I found it on the ESPN site and watched it again. This was by no means a game of just poor defense by OU as some want to say.

Arkansas has a good team and we were with them step-for-step in the first half. We just missed shot after shot from that spot some on the wing. Thats a shot our kids routinely hit. And no it wasn't Ark's wesuperior defense - these were open shots.

To Arkansas' credit they were hitting contested shots and we were missing open shots. Macon and Barford were just on fire offensively - it wasn't necessarily bad defense by OU. Now the 2nd half had more breakdowns defensively (late), but that first half was excellent for OU as was the first part of the second half. We just missed a ton of wide-open shots.

Oh ... and this was a 2 pt game with under a minute left.

Agree coolm! And this was basically against a senior-ladened team. I thought we acquitted ourselves rather well. Handed their pressure effectively. Liked Manek and Freeman making plays to attack their press. Young is such a weapon. Can’t wait to see him in February as he’s still adjusting. Doolittle coming back will be massive too as he does a lot of little things in the paint.

This team must rebound, defend, get guys to accept and settle into roles and learn to close out opponents. All big things. Do those and we’re gonna sting a lot of teams this season.

 

[j2d2]

Two high-scoring teams. Whatever reason(s) you can point to that explains the loss the one that tells the story is : The team that plays the better defense wins. and that's what happened. Not great defense, not good defense but better defense.

 

[chuckb]

There was a lot that went wrong for us...far too many turnovers and bad shots, being outrebounded by 10, still being unable to defend ball screens at the 3 point line but James, McGusty, and Manek were 2-15 from the 3 pt line. In a normal game, they should make 5 or 6 of them. That's the ballgame right there. If they just shoot their average game from the 3 pt line, we probably win despite all the other stuff that went wrong. That's got to be somewhat encouraging.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I'm not so sure that the Hogs played better defense. They were hitting contested shots and we were missing wide open shots.

Just because the ball goes in does not mean that it was bad defense. The best you can do is close up on the shooter with a hand up. If it goes in you just tip your hat to the shooter rather than use bad defense for an excuse.The James foul on the three point shooter was one of the two bad spots in the game for him. The other was missing the two free shots in crunch time.

 

[coolm]

I'm not so sure that the Hogs played better defense. They were hitting contested shots and we were missing wide open shots.

Just because the ball goes in does not mean that it was bad defense. The best you can do is close up on the shooter with a hand up. If it goes in you just tip your hat to the shooter rather than use bad defense for an excuse.The James foul on the three point shooter was one of the two bad spots in the game for him. The other was missing the two free shots in crunch time.

exactly. go back and watch the game. watch the shots that the hogs made. they werent open shots. there was usually a hand in their face. unlike most of the shots OU missed which were completely unopposed.

 

[inoref]

I thought the hogs were more athletic, quicker to the ball. OU has plenty of work to do before they become a top 20 club. We should see some signs of improvement as the year moves on. Not sure if they make the NCAA but NIT for sure

 

[coolm]

I thought the hogs were more athletic, quicker to the ball. OU has plenty of work to do before they become a top 20 club. We should see some signs of improvement as the year moves on. Not sure if they make the NCAA but NIT for sure

1. the hogs are simply more experienced. this makes their anticipation better and reaction quicker. nothing more. to even infer than macon and barbold (??) and beard are that much faster than trae and odomes and cj and shepherd is silly. same for lattin and mcneace. they WERE stronger than manek and lattin and mcneace inside. in fact, freeman's speed gave them trouble. as did manek's. I think you need to watch that game again.

2. it's likewise silly to say they aren't an ncaa team. you can't tell that from the game yesterday. they played a SENIOR backcourt team that was hitting a ton of contested shots. our open shots werent falling and it was still a 2 pt game with under a minute. ludicrous assessment.

 

[inoref]

1. the hogs are simply more experienced. this makes their anticipation better and reaction quicker. nothing more. to even infer than macon and barbold (??) and beard are that much faster than trae and odomes and cj and shepherd is silly. same for lattin and mcneace. they WERE stronger than manek and lattin and mcneace inside. in fact, freeman's speed gave them trouble. as did manek's. I think you need to watch that game again.

2. it's likewise silly to say they aren't an ncaa team. you can't tell that from the game yesterday. they played a SENIOR backcourt team that was hitting a ton of contested shots. our open shots werent falling and it was still a 2 pt game with under a minute. ludicrous assessment.

First off, I didn't say they weren't a NCAA team..I think you need to go back and read my post again....So you saying hogs reaction was quicker but they are not quicker..heh

 

[MisterF]

You are right, OU's 3 point shots were not falling. BUT, they just kept firing them. The refs were calling lots of fouls when players were taking the ball to the rack.

OU failed to adjust more driving inside. The difference in free throws was a HUGE difference in the game.

 

[coolm]

First off, I didn't say they weren't a NCAA team..I think you need to go back and read my post again....So you saying hogs reaction was quicker but they are not quicker..heh

if you dont think experience can make your reactions quicker then you're just wrong. thats not even a matter of opinion. experience = better anticipation.

 

[TINY]

Can anyone explain why Lazenby played so much in the first half? Arkansas was able to build a lead with him in the game during the first half. Seemed like we could never get those points back the rest of the game.

Edit: he only played 3 minutes but that is 3 minutes too many. Dude has no business on the court against quality competition unless there is significant foul trouble or injuries.

 

[AdaSooner]

I agree with most of what everyone on this thread had to say about yesterday’s game. My only problem with our defense was that some, not all, of our players made a poor attempt to stop the dribble drive. That allowed the Razorbacks’s guards and wings to get pretty much any shot they wanted when our players chose to backpedal and rely on their ability to block shots. It also put more pressure on our interior and help defense.

Aside from the loss, I was disappointed in three things, turnovers chief among them. Give Arkansas some of the credit for our sloppy play at times, but this OU team is better than the twenty turnover game we saw yesterday. The combination of our turnovers and way too many missed open shots killed us. I think we all knew OU would have to perform well to beat a very good senior dominated team like Arkansas. As others have already pointed out, they made their shots at crunch time and we didn’t. It’s that simple.

It may be unfair of me to single out one player, because he was not the only reason we lost. I have been a big Jamuni McNeace fan since he signed with OU three years ago. But, I have no defense for the way he played yesterday. He had zero points and one rebound in ten minutes, an unacceptable stat line for a player who was being touted as a replacement for Khadeem in our starting lineup a few weeks ago.

My problem with the way Muni played was more about a lack of effort than his stat line. He got one rebound because he stood by and watched while Arkansas’s players got too many rebounds and 50-50 balls when he had a chance to impact the game in a positive way. He finished the game with four fouls in ten minutes, mainly because he still hasn’t learned to move his feet on defense or get good position inside. It bothers me to see a guy with so much potential become a one trick pony with his baby hook shot. With that, I hope this will be my last rant about one of my favorite players on this team.

One more thing. I hope we don’t have to listen to Bill Walton share his boring life stories again! How sad that Bill still thinks the game is about him.

 

[inoref]

if you dont think experience can make your reactions quicker then you're just wrong. thats not even a matter of opinion. experience = better anticipation.

Not going to get lured in one these petty arguments that seem some posters want to start after each loss or win and that is not even a matter of opinion

 

[coolm]

I was disappointed in McNeace's "contribution" also ada. He was really getting pushed around. I also wanted to rail on Lattin but "upon further review" it seems that Lattin was actually pretty active in there. Maybe that freshman was just tearing McNeace up? That kid is built like a brick warehouse and he moves well. He could have been the reason for their shrinking violet episode.

 

[BCSooners]

IMO there are 2 reasons for OU's high turnovers:

1. Arkansas is super athletic & prioritize pressure.

2. OU didn't play at a fast pace last year like this year with mostly the same players. When you do that you will typically have more turnovers when you first start to play like this bc you've got 5 guys on the court trying to make quick decisions & read each other on fast possessions. It will be much more fluid as the year goes on.

I thought our defense was pretty good, they made tough shots. Also didn't like TY just trying to get his at the end, he played so great until the last 2 minutes with his decision making.

 

[Leroy]

No inside game will kill us against good teams. Nobody can score on the block. Need to get to the free throw line also

 

[Darwin]

Walton needs to go away. :facepalm:facepalm

Bottom line, clearly if both teams shot the same percentage from 3, it would have been a win. The team is young, hopefully they mature soon.

 

[SoonerBred]

I agree with most of what everyone on this thread had to say about yesterday’s game. My only problem with our defense was that some, not all, of our players made a poor attempt to stop the dribble drive. That allowed the Razorbacks’s guards and wings to get pretty much any shot they wanted when our players chose to backpedal and rely on their ability to block shots. It also put more pressure on our interior and help defense.

Aside from the loss, I was disappointed in three things, turnovers chief among them. Give Arkansas some of the credit for our sloppy play at times, but this OU team is better than the twenty turnover game we saw yesterday. The combination of our turnovers and way too many missed open shots killed us. I think we all knew OU would have to perform well to beat a very good senior dominated team like Arkansas. As others have already pointed out, they made their shots at crunch time and we didn’t. It’s that simple.

It may be unfair of me to single out one player, because he was not the only reason we lost. I have been a big Jamuni McNeace fan since he signed with OU three years ago. But, I have no defense for the way he played yesterday. He had zero points and one rebound in ten minutes, an unacceptable stat line for a player who was being touted as a replacement for Khadeem in our starting lineup a few weeks ago.

My problem with the way Muni played was more about a lack of effort than his stat line. He got one rebound because he stood by and watched while Arkansas’s players got too many rebounds and 50-50 balls when he had a chance to impact the game in a positive way. He finished the game with four fouls in ten minutes, mainly because he still hasn’t learned to move his feet on defense or get good position inside. It bothers me to see a guy with so much potential become a one trick pony with his baby hook shot. With that, I hope this will be my last rant about one of my favorite players on this team.

One more thing. I hope we don’t have to listen to Bill Walton share his boring life stories again! How sad that Bill still thinks the game is about him.

I agree, the whole Bill Walton hogging the camera was pissing me off. All he does is talk about his old days and ESPN was split screening him seemingly the whole game. It made it hard to focus on the game. I wish Christian James would stop getting down on himself, it looked identical to last year.

 

[tycat947]

Walton needs to go away. :facepalm:facepalm

Bottom line, clearly if both teams shot the same percentage from 3, it would have been a win. The team is young, hopefully they mature soon.

OMG! Walton is exhausting and unbearable to listen to! He’s been that way since the first time he was on TV broadcast.