Porter Moser shares what Mississippi State win does for Oklahoma’s confidence

The Oklahoma Sooners have struggled in SEC play this season. However, a win over a talented Mississippi State team proved to head coach Porter Moser exactly what his team is capable of doing.

Now, Moser wants to build on that success. The best way to do that, as he explained following the game, is to use that success to build on their team’s confidence going into the final stretch of the regular season and the SEC Tournament.

“It shows them where we are in terms of what a win will do for us,” Porter Moser said. “We come in and the competition — we stubbed our toe against LSU. There’s no question about it. We blew a lead, and we should have had it. And you have to get them back down and sit in the room and just be like, where are we with our goal? We talked through this mission statement, about we need to play better basketball to win games, to get in the tournament, and it’s just constantly to where we’re at.”

In the latest bracketology from ESPN, Oklahoma is listed as one of the Last Four In for this year’s NCAA Tournament. That puts the Sooners right on the edge of making the field with just a few regular season games left.

“Were we 40 teams off the bubble? No. No,” Moser said. “And just, it’s about believing. And we still got two more home games, and I’m praying this thing’s packed against Kentucky. Because they know it. They see it when they go on the road. We pull our bus up and it’s camping out. It’s already full by an hour before the game. They know it. So, to get these guys to believe that, man, we’re right there. We’re right there. They see it. If they’re gonna listen to all the other stuff, might as well listen to where we are in the bubble, because it’s right there.”

Oklahoma is now 5-8 in its games against Quad 1 opponents this season. The Sooners are also 2-1 against Quad 2 opponents. They’re 10-1 against all other opponents.

“And it’s just believing, understanding that in life, Jesus puts us in spots. We have a lot of guys faith-driven on this team, and they understand that,” Moser said. “And I have to lead with that by example. I’ve been through it. I’ve been a long time. More of my care is about them, that they understand this is an opportunity they can remember for the rest of their lives. Some of them this is their last go-around. We found a way to win tonight against Top-15, whatever it is, against a very, very good team. And now we can take that and it notches it up, and we’re gonna have another opportunity Wednesday. And I hope everyone comes out.

The Sooners are now 17-10 on the season and 4-10 in SEC play. The win over Mississippi State snapped a five-game losing streak. In their final four games of the regular season, the Sooners are going to play another four Quad 1 opponents.

“But these young kids are human. They read it, they hear it, they see it, and they come to practice every day, playing their ass off. They come every day, staying with it. And I couldn’t be more joyous to coach that because it could be the other way. It could be the other way. These guys, I mean to see them all go there to see Dayton [Forsythe] last night and how hard the practice has been,” Moser said. “And to get them rewarded that is going to be… we need to build on that momentum that they got rewarded.”

Next up, Oklahoma is set to host Kentucky on Wednesday night for a marquee matchup.