Buddy Hield Is Only a Part – Albeit a Key One – to Sooners’ Hoops Success

Jan 16, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Jordan Woodard (10) drives to the basket in front of West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jevon Carter (2) during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Jordan Woodard (10) drives to the basket in front of West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jevon Carter (2) during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Buddy Hield is the heart and soul of this season’s highly successful Sooner basketball team.

Even with everything the Big 12’s leading scorer brings to Oklahoma basketball, though, the Sooners probably wouldn’t be where they are this season if it was only about Buddy Buckets.

Feb 8, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins (11) dribbles the ball around Texas Longhorns guard Eric Davis Jr. (10) during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 8, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins (11) dribbles the ball around Texas Longhorns guard Eric Davis Jr. (10) during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

As one of the country’s best players, Hield is always going to get the most attention by opposing defenses. And while the Sooner superstar is fully capable of taking over a game, he is not going to win most games all by his lonesome.

Senior guard Isaiah Cousins, one of four Oklahoma starters who have started nearly 90 consecutive games over the past three seasons, has been the Sooners’ next man up for most of the season. The 6-4 senior from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., has been the Sooners’ second leading scorer in four of the last five games and he hit the game-winning shot that helped secure a two-point win on the road over super frosh Ben Simmons and LSU.

Over his last eight games, Cousins has averaged 18 points while shooting at a 60-percent clip from the field. When he hit a cold spell for several games at the beginning of the conference season, teammate Jordan Woodard stepped up and provided big scoring punch to complement Hield.

In games early in the conference schedule at Kansas and against Kansas State, Cousins contributed just 10 points total on 4-of-22 shooting. Woodard scored a season-high 27 against Kansas and added 19 more in the Sooners home victory over K-State. The junior point guard from nearby Edmund led the country in three-point shooting percentage, and in those two games alone, he hit 9 of 14 three-point shots.

Feb 6, 2016; Manhattan, KS, USA; Oklahoma Sooners forward Ryan Spangler (00) shoots against Kansas State Wildcats forward Stephen Hurt (41) during first-half at Fred Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats won 80-69. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 6, 2016; Manhattan, KS, USA; Oklahoma Sooners forward Ryan Spangler (00) shoots against Kansas State Wildcats forward Stephen Hurt (41) during first-half at Fred Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats won 80-69. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports /

Recently, however, Woodard has hit a bit of a shooting cold spell of his own. He showed signs of breaking out of it with 10 points against Kansas, but in the two games prior to that he scored 3 and o points, respectively. Fortunately for the crimson and cream, Cousins stepped up with a combined 33 points and a 16-point average in those two contests.

Ryan Spangler, the 6-8 forward who played his freshman season at Gonzaga before transferring back to his home state to play for Oklahoma, is valued most for his rebounding ability. He is the second leading rebounder in the Big 12 behind Rico Gathers of Baylor, but his offensive contributions have also proved valuable.

Spangler has been the consistent performer among the OU starting five. He regularly pulls down around 10 rebounds per game to go along with 11 points per game. On the season he has 10 double-doubles (double digits in points and rebounds in a single game).

The moral to this story is that the Sooners are extremely fortunate to have perhaps the best player in college basketball anchoring their starting five, there is plenty of offensive weaponry among the supporting cast. And if they can again get it all going at the same time as the season heads down the homestretch and into the postseason, this Oklahoma team is very capable of going a long way in the NCAA Tournament.

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Three goals for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season
Three goals for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season /

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