OU basketball with one last gut-check week

Every week it feels like we’ve been saying it about OU basketball. But every week it has been true, and it needs to be again just one more time.

The Sooners have had their backs against the wall multiple times this season. And for the most part, OU has responded and bounced back. It has shown the type of character and had the type of results to believe it’s an NCAA Tournament team.

Saturday night was another one of those reminders, even with the result not going OU’s way. For 40 minutes, the Sooners played stride-for-stride with the No. 1 team in the country.

A 15-point deficit in the second half that was slowly wiped away by the most encouraging OU performance, perhaps, of the entire season.

Javian McCollum tied the game with 11.8 seconds left before Jamal Shead played hero with just 0.4 remaining for the Cougars.

Memorable atmosphere, incredible game, but not the outcome for the Sooners.

OU is now 19-10 overall and 7-9 in the Big 12. CBS’ Jerry Palm still has OU sitting pretty as a No. 9 seed Monday morning, and it’s hard to argue that.

The question is, does OU have it in it to respond in a big way one more time?

“Tell me anybody that’s playing a five-game stretch that we just played,” head coach Porter Moser said. “Four top-12 teams and your rival on the road in an unbelievable atmosphere. For us coming out of that stretch, we knew we were gonna turn around and play Cincinnati.

“I want to play again right now. The guys do, too. They’re crushed. As much as they’re crushed, that’s a good sign. It wasn’t a, ‘Oh we came close.’ These guys believed they were gonna win. When we were in the huddles down double figures, they believed we were gonna win. That’s a credit to their resiliency.”

Going 1-4 in a five-game Big 12 stretch is, hey, it happens. At Baylor, home vs. Kansas (without John Hugley, Rivaldo Soares), at Oklahoma State, at Iowa State, vs. No. 1 Houston. No forgiveness in that three-week stretch.

But now? This is the one OU has to get. Home game, senior night vs. Cincinnati on Tuesday. A chance to earn win No. 20 and really put itself out of any bubble conversations the rest of the way.

OU has not had a 20-win regular season since Buddy Hield and the Final Four team. So if the Sooners still have anything left in the tank, we’ll see it Tuesday and see that victory.

They’ve checked all the boxes trying to get to the tournament for the first time under Moser. It just needs one more.

“Absolutely. It’s got to fuel us to believe that what we can do in this league, and what we just went through. You know, we got to keep our heads up. You know, we’re good. We’re good. We just—that’s the elite of the elite right there, and we’ve got to find a way to win that.

“Got to find a way to win that, and that’s my job. It starts with me. I’m going to – we’re going to break this tape down and we’re going to get this team ready again in a couple-day turnaround to play a very, very tough Cincinnati team.”

Big 12 Team of the Week

BYU, and not just because it boosts OU’s resume. It’s these Cougars, not Houston, that end up being the first team to win at Kansas this season. If that wasn’t good enough, BYU then outscored TCU 58-29 in the second half in Provo to win 87-75. The Sooners’ two best wins are vs. Iowa State, vs. BYU, and they have stood the test of the season.

Up next

Understand a lot of eggs are being placed in the UC basket Tuesday, but OU would still have another opportunity for 20 wins in the regular season. The Sooners, accordingly, are at Texas 1 p.m. Saturday. Moser has not defeated UT in his three seasons, including a disheartening effort in a loss in Norman earlier this season.