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Oklahoma basketball: Sooners’ load up again in nonconference

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - FEBRUARY 05: Head Coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners appeals to an official during the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Lloyd Noble Center on February 5, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. West Virginia defeated Oklahoma 75-73. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - FEBRUARY 05: Head Coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners appeals to an official during the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Lloyd Noble Center on February 5, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. West Virginia defeated Oklahoma 75-73. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger has never been one to shy away from playing tough nonconference opponents.

Had the Sooners played their conference schedule as well as they did in nonconference games last season, they might have played longer than one game into the postseason.

Two factors actually worked in Oklahoma’s favor last season. They beat some very good teams in the nonconference portion of their schedule, and they played in the best basketball conference in college basketball.

The nonconference slate for next season is starting to come together, and it appears the Sooners will face some formidable out-of-conference challenges again in 2018-19.

One of the teams Oklahoma reportedly will go up against in the nonconference portion of its schedule next season is Notre Dame. Fan Rag Sports Network is reporting that the Sooners and Fighting Irish will play each other in early December as part of the Jimmy V Classic, which is held every year at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The other part of the Jimmy V Classic doubleheader is expected to be another Big 12 team, West Virginia, facing Florida.

Even before the Sooners travel to New York City, they will take part in the Battle4Atlantis in the Bahamas. The field for that tournament, Nov. 21-23, includes Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, Butler, Stanford, Dayton and Middle Tennessee State.  Oklahoma played in this tournament in 2014-15, losing to Wisconsin in the championship game.

Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball /

Oklahoma Sooners Basketball

The Sooners will host Creighton at Lloyd Noble Center, go up against Wichita State at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and taken on USC at the BOK Center in Tulsa. Creighton and Wichita State both played in the NCAA Tournament this past season, and USC was in the National Invitational Tournament. Oklahoma defeated Wichita State and USC on the road  in the nonconference last season when both were ranked.

OU will also travel out of state for true road games at Northwestern, Texas-San Antonio and Texas Rio Grande Valley. The latter two teams are coached by former Oklahoma assistants. Steve Henson, a longtime assistant under Kruger, is now the head man at UTSA, and Lew Hill is head coach at UTRGV, where Kruger began his college head-coaching career. When Kruger was there (1982-86), the school was known as Texas-Pan-American.

As Oklahoma’s schedule for next season is taking shape, so too is Kruger’s Sooner team for 2018-19.

Earlier this week, the Sooners announced that graduate transfer Miles Reynolds, a combination guard, will play for the Sooners next season. And on Wednesday, OU signed junior-college forward Kur Kuath to a basketball scholarship.

Reynolds played last season at Pacific, where he averaged 13.1 points and 2.8 assists per game. Kuath, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward, was an NJCAA third-team All-American this past season at Salt Lake City Community College. He averaged 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game.

The Sooners are also working hard to try to land one more graduate transfer. They are in the hunt for Aaron Calixte of Maine, who will be in Norman for a recruiting visit this weekend.

Reynolds and Kuath (pronounced “KWOTH”) join 6-foot, 5-inch shooting guard Jamal Bieniemy, a four-star commitment, as members of Oklahoma’s 2018 recruiting class.

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