OU basketball trying to focus on the good, eliminate the bad

When you’re going through a rough stretch like OU basketball is right now, very easy to dwell on the negative. To only see the bad things that you’re doing.

There are quite a few. No other way to go from 13-0 to 13-3 and 0-3 in the SEC unless you’re making some mistakes.

But that can’t be everything. OU head coach Porter Moser began his Tuesday press conference talking about the good the Sooners are doing.

There’s a lot of that, too, just not enough of it. And not coming in the clutch moments. OU has been in two of its three games down to the wire. Learning how to finish is the next step.

So Moser isn’t using terms like must-win or anything like that as rival Texas comes to Norman 9 p.m. Wednesday on SEC Network.

No, he just wants to see the team play better. In doing that, those Ls should turn into Ws.

“And I think that’s been the message,” Moser said. “Your margin for error is smaller in the SEC right now. The margin for error is smaller and we’ve gotta play to those margins. We’ve gotta shrink ’em. We’ve gotta get that swing in our margin in our favor. There’s not these big margins in the SEC.

“And that’s the message, is that everything matters. How can we be the best team at getting better? Stay together, alright? Block out outside noises. Everybody wants to have, everyone’s got social media. Block it out man. It’s us. Let’s shrink the margins. They’re small margins, let’s shrink ’em and end up on the right side of this.”

Scouting Texas

The Longhorns are in the same position. Playing a tough schedule, UT is also one of the five teams 0-3 in conference play.

OU has Jeremiah Fears. Texas has freshman star Tre Johnson.

“They’ve always been uber talented and uber length,” Moser said. “To beat them tomorrow — they have some elite scorers. Defending, too. They’re doing both. Tre Johnson, the freshman, just phenomenal shot maker at all levels. Pope’s done it a long time in a power five conference. (Arthur) Kaluma, we’ve seen a lot at Kansas. (Kadin) Shedrick, he’s been there. We’ve seen Mark at Arkansas.”

“So they’ve got a lot of scoring power and then they play really hard on D. So we’re gonna have to be able to — they have the ability to make tough shots. We’ve gotta continue to fight through and make it tough. They have a number of scoring options with it.”

Collaborative effort with Fears

For the first time, you’re seeing some doubt with Fears. After dominating non-conference opponents, Fears has hit his first speed bump.

It’s a big one, at the moment, but he’ll keep pushing forward. Fears is coming off a career-worst two-point performance where he was just 1-of-11 shooting from the field.

It marked the first game Fears didn’t score at least 10 points.

“I thought he had a great practice yesterday,” Moser said. “The kid wants to be good. He wants to do well for the team. He’s about winning, about all those things. My role is to keep showing him the value he brings, showing him, teaching him situations, watching film with him—all those things I’ve done, and we’re going to continue to do.

“He gives us a high ceiling. He gives us a higher ceiling when he plays well, and you need that high ceiling in the SEC, and he gives you that. We’re going to help him get there. It’s not like we’re sitting back and waiting for him; it’s not. This is collaborative. He is a special teammate, special player. It’s collaborative, and we’ll help him get there, but we have a higher ceiling when he’s playing well.”

Moser hasn’t seen a drastic change in how defenses are guarding Fears. And you can’t shrink away from these moments. Be aggressive but be smart.

“Just play to have that aggression, but also make the right play,” Moser said. “To understand that if you get three guys and you draw it and you hit for an open 3, that’s the right play; glorify it. He’s doing the things you need to do to do it. He’s keeping a good attitude. Playing hard in practice.

“He’s watching extra film. That’s the good thing is how receptive he is. He just needs to be aggressive. Be aggressive, and it’s hard for young people to play through mistakes. because they start to mount, the pressure starts to mount. And we gotta help him with that.”