Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma basketball: What we learned from weekend win over Minnesota

By Chip Rouse

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after making a three point basket in the first half against the Mississippi Rebels during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after making a three point basket in the first half against the Mississippi Rebels during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

While Sooner fans struggle with the bewilderment of what is happening to their beloved football team at the most critical time of the season, they can take some comfort in the impressive 2-0 start by the two Oklahoma basketball teams.

Unlike their football brethren who started strong but held on for dear life in the closing minutes for a too-close-for-comfort victory on Saturday, the OU men’s basketball team overcame a slow start and finished strong to defeat a good Minnesota squad, 71-62, on Saturday.

The victory, the Sooners second in the opening week of the new college basketball season, was made even sweeter having been achieved on a neutral floor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that was about a three-hour’s drive from the Minneapolis campus for the highly partisan Minnesota crowd and made the game feel like a UM home game.

Also over the weekend, the Oklahoma women disposed of Prairie View A&M and the University of Alabama-Birmingham to advance to the semifinal round of the Preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Lady Sooners handily defeated Prairie View, 94-48, in Norman on Friday, and followed that with an 82-75 second-round win over UAB. OU will next host Missouri State on Thursday in the Preseason WNIT semifinals.

The Sooner men trailed Minnesota by six points, 32-26, at halftime on Saturday, but turned it up offensively in the second half, outscoring the Golden Gophers 45-30 over the final 20 minutes to take home the victory.

Here is what we can takeaway from the OU men’s team after the first week of action and looking ahead in the 2019-20 college basketball season.

  • Brady Manek, Kristian Doolitte, Austin Reeves and freshman De’Vion Harmon are going to provide the bulk of the offense among the starting five, with sophomore Jamal Bieniemy being the first man off the bench. Manek is averaging 20 points per contest after two games, Reeves 17 and Harmon 15.5.
  •  Harmon is five of nine from three-point range after two games. Manek made three of six three-balls against Minnesota after coming up empty in five three-point tries in the season-opening win over the University of Texas-San Antonio earlier in the week. Reeves, who transferred from Wichita State, where he was a deft three-point shooter, averaging 45 percent from long range, has yet to find the range through the first two games, going just two of twelve behind the arc.
  • It appears that head coach Lon Kruger is going to use a rotation of eight -to-ten players. Eight different Sooners scored in the win over Minnesota.
  • The Sooners rebounded from an eight-point second-half deficit against Minnesota with a 23-4 run and 61-percent shooting for a come-from-behind victory.
  • Oklahoma continues on a road trip that includes seven away contests in the first 10 games, squaring off against Oregon State on Tuesday in Portland as part of the Phil Knight Classic.

On the women’s side, the trio of Ana Lianusa, Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson have led the way in Oklahoma’s two Preseason WNIT wins, scoring in double figures in both games. Williams is averaging 19 points in the two games, while Lianusa and Robertson are both averaging 18.5 per game.

The Lady Sooners are averaging 88.0 points per game. That’s 12 points above what they averaged last season.

If OU is able to get by Missouri State on Thursday, the Lady Sooners will advance to the Preseason WNIT championship game on Sunday.

Home/OU Basketball