OU basketball must continue playing with sense of urgency

It is déjà vu all over again for OU basketball. Feels like we’ve said that a couple of times this season, but it’s accurate this time of year.

The Sooners looked dead in the water at 16-10 and 3-10 in SEC play. Instead, a massive bounce back to end 19-12 and 6-12 and earn three Quad 1 victories in the process.

There’s a hope, maybe even a belief that OU has already done enough to earn that elusive bid to the NCAA Tournament. But remember last season? You cannot get comfortable.

The prevailing thought last year was regular season win No. 20 would have been more than enough. Jubilation ensued after a gritty overtime victory against Cincinnati to make OU 20-10. Got a little comfortable.

Dropped the next two games, still felt good but we know the story. The dreaded First Team Out after a wild championship weekend of bid stealers.

Fast forward to this week. OU has played its way from First Four Out to Last Four In. You could make the argument they’re already not set for Dayton and a First Four game. Beat Georgia on Wednesday night in the SEC Tournament, and you really don’t have to sweat.

Lose? Well, here come the bid stealers week again.

“For sure, you can never get too comfortable because this time of year is the most important time of year, especially when it comes to conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament,” senior Jalon Moore told SoonerScoop. “So just coming in and being on it, paying attention to every little detail, bringing the focus every day is important this time. We’ve learned that.”

Moore learned that the hard way. You don’t forget that feeling in the pit of your stomach when learning you’re left out of the dance.

Head coach Porter Moser still has a hard time describing that Sunday afternoon and everything that happened.

OU needed toughness. Physical toughness, sure, but mental toughness. That became a rallying cry in the transfer portal. Find the tough, find the grit and fight through hard.

There was a hiccup in February, no question. Going from 16-5 to 16-10, doubts galore. But the perseverance and resilience returned. And this team, perhaps unlike any of the other Moser-led squads in Norman, is actually playing their best ball at just the right time.

“You try to get guys that have one, guys that are trying to chase that winning like Jalon Moore, we’ve talked about his quest to get in,” Moser told SoonerScoop. “But I really thought that this team was resilient starting in the summer and going through it in the fall. But then early on I really saw it in the Bahamas. And then we saw it get cracked a little bit. At Florida, at Alabama, we’ve talked about this, at Auburn.

“And what we’ve really — we’ve been able to fight back. Even in the second half Texas took a five-point lead or whatever it was. To fight back and then us take a five-point lead or six-point lead, that’s the resiliency you need to keep fighting back over and over and over. And I can just see these last five-six games we’ve regained that back and that’s really, really good news for us.” 

OU has six Quad 1 victories and four Quad 2 wins. It feels like enough but never leave it to chance. If the Sooners can get by Georgia (who beat them in Athens two months ago), OU would get a second crack at Kentucky on Thursday.