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OU guard Javian McCollum 'like Allen Iverson,' says English

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•12/06/23•

BPrzybylo

NCAA Basketball: Providence at Oklahoma
Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

Providence head coach Kim English has played a lot of basketball and been around basketball for a long time.

So when he said what he said about OU guard Javian McCollum, it resonated.

“He’s a great player. We knew who he was at Siena. He’s having a really good start to the season. He looks like Allen Iverson out there,” English said. “He is a very, very talented guard. He made some shots over good defense. Some, he made us pay versus bad defense. I feel like he made every right play. He had a really good game.”

McCollum had another game where he was on for the Sooners. He led the way with 19 points in OU’s 72-51 victory against the Friars on Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

English was a star himself at Missouri before being selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. He had been the head coach at George Mason before taking over at Providence in the spring.

He has seen a lot of ball. English knows ball. And he knows McCollum can be something special and was against his Friars.

It wasn’t just the 19 points for McCollum, but the control. The way McCollum and Milos Uzan simply controlled the game from nearly beginning to end.

McCollum added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. He continues to show how well he fits in with what head coach Porter Moser is trying to do.

But Iverson? Hey, McCollum will take that.

“That’s a great comparison. Nah, I’ve seen some Allen Iverson. I appreciate him for saying that. Allen Iverson’s cold, so that’s big coming from him.”

Iverson, of course, might be as famous for his ‘talking about practice’ speech from a long, long time ago. However, you could tell the appreciation McCollum had for even being mentioned in the same breath as the Hall of Famer.

“I know a little bit of both, a little bit of both,” McCollum said. “He talking about, ‘We talking about practice.’ But on the court he still went out there and handled business at the end of the day. He’s a great player.”

So Iverson, eh? Well, here are the Sights & Sounds from the game from SoonerScoop video editor Eddie Radosevich. Make your own conclusion, but McCollum was fantastic in helping No. 19 OU improve to 8-0.

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