Porter Moser calls out Oklahoma for 'unacceptable' effort vs. Texas

After an 0-4 start in the SEC, Porter Moser went at his Oklahoma Sooners for how they played to cost themselves their latest outcome on Wednesday.

Moser criticized the effort by Oklahoma in how it started the game against Texas, a rival no less, with what ended in a 77-73 loss in Norman. He apologized as he described how his team played in the first two-thirds of the game as “unacceptable”, which, in turn, comes on him as the head coach.

“You know, for me, it’s, uh – it starts with me. The first 25 minutes is, is, is – I’m apologetic for the effort for the first 25 minutes,” Moser said postgame. “It starts with me. I want everyone to know that I look at myself in the mirror. That first 25 minutes was unacceptable toughness and effort…That is – that first 25 minutes was unacceptable competitiveness and there’s no, no excuse – starting with me.”

OU was down as much as 23 on its home floor as it lost the first half at 43-27. Part of the deficit throughout the night was 18 turnovers for the Sooners.

“But the, the toughness and the, you know, that we (had) in the first 25 minutes of the game? That’s two games in a row that we had 18 turnovers,” Moser noted. “It’s hard in this league. The margin of error if you’re taking – I mean, how many more less shots because you’re turning it over?”

However, Oklahoma turned it around over the final 16 minutes of the game. The Sooners turned that halftime margin into a one-possession game twice in the final eight minutes. That came in part because of improved efforts, especially from some substitutions that Moser mentioned by name. It did make him ask, though, where that was from the moment that the team tipped off?

“And, you know, the guys? I thought we had guys off the bench that came in – Dayton Forsythe, Mo Wague, Glenn Taylor – (with) a toughness factor that it became contagious,” said Moser. “The last 15 minutes? I was so proud of how hard they worked and how they did compete. But that’s what it’s got to be…Why would we do it any other way?”

Still, it wasn’t enough by the end for Oklahoma as it lost its fourth straight in conference play after starting undefeated. The Sooners now have another chance to end their skid over their next two, assuming they play more like they did late last night than early, with them playing the two other winless teams in the league next, South Carolina and Arkansas.