OU executes down the stretch, 1-0 in Big 12

The 12-1 start was nice for OU basketball, but the skeptics remained. It’s kind of hard for some Sooner fans to forget the lack of execution down the stretch the last two seasons.

And the first game in the Big 12 in 2024? We were there again. But this time OU was ready and answered the bell.

The Sooners ended the game on a 14-5 run to earn a hard-fought 71-63 victory against visiting Iowa State on Saturday evening.

So many times in the last two seasons under Porter Moser you would see OU in a one-score game with the final media timeout. Then one bad play or decision, and a win would become a loss.

Not vs. the Cyclones. OU, trailing 58-57, closed with a 71-60 advantage before a late bucket by ISU in the final seconds.

First Quadrant 1 win in the books. First Big 12 win in the books. The grind is officially here.

A lot of that was due to Javian McCollum. Tired legs made him ineffective as a shooter. He delivered, though, with three of his five assists in the final minutes.

“You got to give yourself up sometimes,” Moser said. “They were really heating him up, and he made some great decisions. We went to that little action, and Sam was rolling, and Javian made some really good plays out of that.

“I think Iowa State’s one of the best teams in the country. I mean, they’re so hard to score against. They’re so physical, and they do it in a basketball-fundamental way. The way they switch, the way they hedge, the way they guard the ball. It’s just so fundamentally physical.

“So, I thought for us being down one with four minutes left, the resolve our guys had to stay with it and get some scores and stops in the last four minutes, because a lot of these games are going to be exactly like this, down to these last four.”

McCollum had 15 points and five assists.

Game 14 takeaways

*Moser talks about the depth and having eight starters. Oh, it showed vs. ISU. Because it’s not that Rivaldo Soares and Le’Tre Darthard need to score 15-20 points. But they do so many things well to contribute to a win.

Soares had nine rebounds. And Darthard, coming off a 1-for-7 shooting night, drained three 3-pointers on his way to 11 points.

 “He had some physical rebounds,” Moser said. “He had some in-traffic rebounds, Waldo did. Nine of them. We have eight guys. It might be different guys different nights. I love Tre’s mental approach to go 1 for 7 one game. Not one person had even an ounce of concern. It was just, keep shooting. I told him last game, keep shooting. He had some big ones for us. I thought Waldo played really good defense and nine big rebounds, and they were physical rebounds.”

*Nobody epitomizes a Moser team more than Sam Godwin. He was back at it with 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks. The energy he brings is infectious for OU and noticed as much by Iowa State.

“Sam’s another one that’s strictly about winning,” guard Milos Uzan said. “He’s just going out there and he’s just playing hard as he can. He’s trying to get extra possessions for the team, and I think he was the same guy last year, I just think now he’s on a bigger role. His growth has been amazing.”

Uzan pitched in with 12 points and five assists.

Up next

No. 11 OU (13-1, 1-0) heads to TCU on Wednesday night and Kansas on Saturday. KU took down TCU 83-81 on Saturday in one of the best games of the season. Again, welcome to the grind.