Milos Uzan, Javian McCollum help keep Sooners perfect

There have been times when the Sooners are getting the good stuff from point guard Milos Uzan. And others when Javian McCollum is carrying the day.

But what OU got Tuesday could be scary down the road, at least for its opponents. Uzan and McCollum both playing at a high level on the court together at the same time. Their control paved the way to a 72-51 victory over visiting Providence in front of a solid Lloyd Noble Center crowd.

McCollum had 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Uzan added 17 points, a career-high 12 rebounds and four steals.

“I’ve talked about it, having those two-headed leaders, point guards,” head coach Porter Moser said. “The rebounding they did, the control of the game they did. It was great to see them really start to get in a groove together.

“But they did so much other than scoring, and they provided that scoring. They ran that drop coverage. Providence is really, really good defensively and they make you make that floater, that midrange shot, and both those guys are good at that shot. But they make you take those shots. I really think they’re elite defensively. They’re physical. But I thought Javian and Los were outstanding both together the same night. It really was the key.”

No. 19 OU (8-0) raced out to a 12-0 lead before anybody could blink. But Providence fought back to take its first lead of the game at 40-39 at the under 16 media timeout. From there? The Sooners cleaned it up, offensively and defensively. They ended the game on a 33-11 run.

“We had a couple of possessions that weren’t characteristic of us,” Moser said. “I think we said that. You can’t just catch it and drive into a crowd. You have to create the domino effect. I thought after that timeout, our ball movement was much better again. From then on, we were back to moving, sharing and spacing.”

The Sooners outrebounded Providence 40-23, forced 15 turnovers and had 12 steals.

Game 8 Takeaways

*Welcome back, Sam Godwin. After missing last week because of illness, he was big time with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals.

“Sam is hard-nosed,” Uzan said. “Plays hard every time he’s on the court, however many minutes he’s going to get. Just his presence. Him boxing out. Crashing the glass hard. He brings a lot to the team and he brings a lot of energy. I really appreciate him, for sure.”

*Moser challenged the crowd last week at McCasland to come to Lloyd Noble on Tuesday. The students absolutely delivered.

“I mean, home court advantage. That’s what it’s about,” Moser said. “I keep saying, you don’t have great Top 20 teams without a home court advantage. You really noticed on those free throws, and they were great. And that’s fun. And that’s fun to see and it energizes everybody, especially on a physical game like that. It gives you, and I thought they really provided a spark for us, that crowd.”

Really not a bad Tuesday night crowd for #OU. Team has delivered again, too. pic.twitter.com/cH2782iLmK

— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) December 6, 2023

*Up next? Another tough one. Heading to the BOK Center in Tulsa to take on Arkansas in the Crimson & Cardinal Classic. It’s tied 1-1 after the first two installments.

Final word

“He’s a great player. We knew who he was at Siena. He’s having a really good start to the season. He looks like Allen Iverson out there. He is a very, very talented guard. Made some shots over good defense. Some, he made us pay versus bad defense. I feel like he made every right play. He had a really good game.” – Providence head coach Kim English on McCollum