What We Learned: Oklahoma Sooners cruise past Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
By Joe Buettner
The Oklahoma Sooners returned home for an intrastate battle between the Sooners and the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles.
It was not much of a battle, though. The Sooners breezed by the Golden Eagles, 85-53, for their seventh win of the year.
The 15th-ranked Sooners are now on a three-game win streak after their win over ORU, and while it was a blowout, we learned a few things from this contest.
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– OU’s defense is improving! The Sooners kept ORU in check for most of the night. We saw an Oklahoma team get their hands in passing lanes, and it’s obvious a concerted effort is being made to beef up on both sides of the floor.
– TaShawn Thomas is really good. As the season progresses, the more I really like TaShawn Thomas. He’s going to be tough to defend if he can continue to power his way through defenders. Thomas looks like a man playing with a lot of purpose. He scored 14 points on seven-of-10 shooting Tuesday and had a few ferocious dunks. Part of me wants to say he can make a run at an All-Big 12 selection, but there is still plenty of ball left to play, but I’m really liking his potential.
– On a side note, Thomas did leave the game with a wrist injury, but he appears to be okay. I thought it should be noted that he isn’t invincible, because sometimes he looks like a freight train that no one can stop. Hopefully, he’s good to go for Saturday.
– Buddy Hield is back!
Well, he hasn’t been gone, but he’s struggled lately. Hield had a nice scoring day, and drained a few three’s. He, also, had a sick alley-oop when the game was out of hand. Oklahoma basketball is more fun when Buddy Hield is cooking.
– OU can score quick….like really quick. Okay, we didn’t just learn this. However, OU did a great job of getting out in transition against an outmatched ORU team. They couldn’t do anything about it, and the Sooners took advantage. Once again, this is a fun team to watch. So watch them and #takeNOTICE.
– Oklahoma is capable of limiting the turnovers. OU started a bit sloppy, but they quickly turned it around and played some sharp basketball. Oklahoma only committed six turnovers compared to ORU’s 19. That’s promising, and it’s a problem OU faced a lot last year.
– The Sooners look ready. Oklahoma went out and took care of business. They have a big game against an undefeated Washington Huskies team this Saturday in Las Vegas and they didn’t take ORU lightly. Saturday will be OU’s toughest test since they’re game against #2 Wisconsin in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Hopefully this win will serve as a momentum boost for Lon Kruger’s squad going in to the MGM Showcase.