Porter Moser details what went wrong late in loss to LSU

Oklahoma completely collapsed late at home to lose a fourth consecutive game in conference play.

Porter Moser explained some of what went wrong for the Sooners down the stretch after their 82-79 loss to LSU. That included a breakdown of their inbounds with twenty seconds left up one where they didn’t run their press break well or with awareness, turned it over on their side of the court, and gave up an and-one that would put the Tigers up for good.

“On the last sequence, when they did hit the four-point play? We’re up one. We had one timeout,” said Moser. “We literally went over what we call – it’s our by-pass shooter against the press. We flashed Jalon then we cut, cut. And we cut sideline, cut middle and have three options. I was holding (the timeout) in case we got in trouble and, you know, but then, even later, we got the ball in-bounds and then we just stood. Jalon got trapped and Duke, Fears, and Dayton were almost on top of each other. We didn’t cut, cut.

“I’ll take it. We just got to have some leadership and understanding down the stretch. We really talked about bypass shooter the last two days, late-game. Jalon knew we had a timeout and we just got to either take it, and it was our jump ball and we have one timeout left and we can just take it, spread people out. We just kind of hot-potatoed it. For us being disorganized? That’s on me. I mean, we talked about the last few days but, eventually – and that’s what I told everybody. I said, you know, if right there, we got it in? Jalon was eight-for-eight from the foul line. But we got to cut, cut and get space to have passing options. We just literally froze and stood, three guys almost on top of each other just looking at Jalon.”

OU was up as much as 13 in the second half before the Tigers closed on a 49-33 run. That included seven points in a dozen seconds for Cam Carter as he converted a four-point play and the and-one in the final moments of the game to turn a five-point deficit into a two-point lead. That gave Carter a total of 29 points, a game-high, and got LSU out of Norman with their first win in over a month and just their second in the league.

Those breakdowns late weren’t the only poor plays on the night for the Sooners. Moser also recalled an earlier four-point play allowed to Carter in the second half as Oklahoma fouled multiple jump shooters.

“Yeah, so, um, we were up five, just to take you a little bit before that. We were up five. They called timeout. We were in – defensively, we were in what we call no-jump situation. No matter what, we’re not jumping – contesting a shot, on a drive. It’s a no-jump situation and we jumped and fouled a three-point shooter. Um, we foul, I think, four three-point shooters. That’s just mental. That’s mental,” Moser said, “The fouling of four three-point shooters? We were, um – we had, we missed a layup up seven, literally a point-blank layup. This is early, like, seven or eight minutes. It was a six-point swing because we missed a layup, they come down, we foul a three-point shooter. That’s a six-point swing, you know.”

With that, Oklahoma has lost four straight, five of their last six, and nine out of their dozen total in league play to be at 16-9 overall. This wasn’t their worst by margin in conference but is one of the worst, if not the worst, in how it played out late.

The Sooners are now at risk of missing the tournament with six games to go, including each of their next five being against ranked opponents. Still, all Moser can do in that spot they’re in is try to get his team back.

“Very, very, very tough loss,” said Moser. “You know, my faith has always been the foundation and sometimes you don’t know why you’re put in these positions, the good lord puts you in positions. But the only thing I know how to do is to pour into these young men and teach them and really try to show them to be better, to learn how to close out games.”