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OU basketball trying to move forward by looking back

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•02/14/25•

BPrzybylo

Duke Miles8
OU guard Duke Miles. (Jay Biggerstaff - Imagn Images)

Maybe the only way for OU basketball to move forward right now is to look backward. Try to follow the logic for a second.

The recent three-game skid has been rough for everyone involved. OU has lost by at least 18 points in all three games and hasn’t been within 10 points in the second half.

So head coach Porter Moser isn’t saying look back at those three games. No, but with LSU coming to town, Moser is gravitating toward OU’s huge win against Michigan two months ago.

The size, length, it’s about equal for the Wolverines and Tigers. Get back on track by remembering what you did to get the 13-0 start to begin with.

“But just getting the ball (to) the second (and) third side,” Moser said. “I didn’t think we moved it well. I thought when… and that’s a byproduct of, we got guys that really want to do well. It’s not selfishness. It’s wanting to do well. And a byproduct of when it’s not going well is that all of a sudden you just try to do everything yourself and then that that leads to guys standing around. I think we had more standing around than we have all year.

“Because up until these three games, we’ve been very, very good offensively, no matter who we played, in terms of movement, spacing, getting a good shot. We’ve not always made the shot, but we’ve gotten good offense. And I think that we gotta go back to getting second, third side, getting the ball to the paint inside out off the dribble, but not as much standing around, and trusting that.”

Keep fighting

That’s all you can do. And it was the message from guard Duke Miles. Not much of anything went right in the loss at Missouri, but Miles showed up.

If it took a 24-point beatdown to get Miles to be a factor for OU down the road? That’s a trade the Sooners will gladly take.

“It’s been tough. As a human being, you go through life’s struggles and stuff like that,” Miles said. “Just being mentally strong, coming in every day and preparing, keeping the guys’ heads up and just knowing at the end of the day we get to play basketball. That’s the biggest thing going right here.

“We just go out there and just know at the end of the day, the main goal is the main goal. We’re going to keep our heads focused, and what’s going to happen at the end is going to be good.”

Scouting LSU

The Tigers enter on a seven-game losing streak and are 1-10 in the SEC. But you could argue they’ve been more competitive than what OU has looked like in recent weeks.

“One, is how hard they’re continuing to fight through adversity,” Moser said. “They lost to Ole Miss at the buzzer. They were up a ton of the game at Arkansas. They’re extremely long and athletic. We were familiar with Cam Carter, I think we faced last year at Kansas State, high level big-time player. Can score on anyone in the country. Can put up 20 on any night. We know that. We know how good of a scorer he is.

“(Jordan) Sears, their point, has scored at a high clip. Those two have taken 520 of their shots. They’re very, very good offensively. and then they’re long. I think (Corey) Chest and Daimion Collins are two of the premier, long, athletic guys. But like us, they’ve had some heartbreaking losses. But they’ve continued to fight. Continued to battle. They have lethal athleticism.”

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